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Body Mass Index (Asian Cutoffs) Calculator

Get your BMI and see where it falls on the WHO Asian scale, which flags risk earlier than the standard scale.

How it is calculated

The tool computes BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m)², with height typed in centimetres and divided by 100 first. The result is rounded to one decimal, and the category is chosen from that displayed value: below 18.5 underweight, 18.5 to 22.9 healthy, 23.0 to 24.9 increased risk (overweight), 25.0 to 29.9 high risk (obesity class I), 30.0 and above the top band. It also prints the weight range that keeps you between BMI 18.5 and 22.9 at your height, 18.5 × m² to 22.9 × m², and says whether the standard WHO scale would call you overweight (cutoff 25). Weight must be 2–650 kg and height 50–272 cm; anything outside, or an implausible BMI, shows no result. Age, sex, muscle and waist size are not used, so the labels are screening bands, not a diagnosis.

Worked example

Weight 70 kg, height 170 cm. Height in metres is 1.70 and 1.70² = 2.89. BMI = 70 ÷ 2.89 = 24.2. That sits in the 23.0–24.9 band, so the tool answers "Increased risk / overweight", while the standard scale says "not overweight (cutoff 25)". The healthy range at this height is 18.5 × 2.89 = 53.5 kg up to 22.9 × 2.89 = 66.2 kg, shown as 53.5 - 66.2 kg.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Applying the Asian cutoffs to everyone: they are meant for people of Asian ancestry, and other groups are normally read against the standard 25 and 30 cutoffs.
  • Typing height in metres (1.7) or inches. Height must be in centimetres; 1.7 is below the 50 cm minimum and gives no result, while inches give a BMI that is far too high.
  • Overlooking that 23.0–24.9 is already flagged here but counts as not overweight on the standard scale; the second line of the result shows that difference.
  • Reading BMI as a measure of fat: muscular people can score high, and people with little muscle can score in the healthy band while carrying excess fat.
  • Expecting 24.96 to stay in the lower band: the category follows the rounded value, so a BMI that displays as 25.0 is classed as 25.0.

Sources

About this calculator

BMI itself is calculated the same way everywhere — weight in kg divided by height in meters squared — but the WHO recommends different classification cutoffs for Asian populations, since research showed that Asian populations tend to develop weight-related health risks like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease at lower BMI values than the standard Western thresholds. Under the Asian cutoffs, overweight starts at 23 (versus 25 on the standard scale) and obesity starts at 25 (versus 30 standard), with a further obese-II category above 30.

The difference stems from body composition studies showing that, at the same BMI, Asian individuals tend to carry a higher percentage of body fat and more visceral fat than Western populations, which changes the risk profile at a given number on the scale. Public health bodies and clinicians in many Asian countries, and doctors treating Asian patients elsewhere, use these adjusted cutoffs so that risk flags trigger earlier rather than waiting for someone to cross the standard 25 or 30 thresholds.

Height and weight give the usual BMI, but the category is read from the WHO cutoffs for Asian populations, where the overweight and obese bands start lower than on the standard scale.

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