Your waist, against your height and hips
The simplest benchmark: a waist under half your height. And the WHO waist-to-hip ratio.
Your waist-to-height ratio
0.47
- According to NICE
- No increased risk
- Waist not to exceed
- 32.5 in
- Waist-to-hip ratio
- 0.78 · below the WHO cut-off
Belly fat weighs more on health than weight does: a waist under half your height is the simplest benchmark. Valid under a BMI of 35.
The cut-offs for your height
The NICE (2025) ranges, turned into waist measurements.
| Waist / height | Risk | Waist |
|---|---|---|
| < 0.5 | No increased risk | < 32.5 in |
| 0.5 – 0.6 | Increased risk | 32.5 in – 39 in |
| ≥ 0.6 | High risk | ≥ 39 in |
And the waist-to-hip ratio
The WHO (2008) sees a substantially increased risk from 0.9 in men and 0.85 in women.
- Waist-to-height: under 0.5, no increased risk; 0.5 to 0.59, increased risk; from 0.6, high risk (NICE, 2025).
- Waist-to-hip: substantially increased risk from 0.90 in men and 0.85 in women (WHO, 2008).
- Measure the waist halfway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, at the end of a breath out.
Frequently asked questions
Belly fat is the most closely linked to heart disease and diabetes. Your waist shows it; your weight doesn’t.
The half-your-height rule applies to both sexes and all ethnicities under a BMI of 35, according to NICE.
Waist-to-height is the simplest and doesn’t depend on sex. Waist-to-hip adds to the picture.
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