Indian BMI Calculator
For Indians and South Asians, a healthy BMI is 18.5 to 22.9, and risk begins at 23, not 25.South Asians carry more body fat and visceral fat at the same BMI, so the standard WHO cut-offs of 25 and 30 read too high. India's January 2025 guidelines treat any BMI above 23 as the entry point for obesity assessment.
Enter Your Body Metrics
Indian guidelines flag abdominal obesity at 90 cm (men) and 80 cm (women).
Enter your height and weight
See your BMI read against the Asian cut-offs, with a waist check and the standard-chart comparison.
Why the waist matters here
Add an optional waist measurement to unlock your waist-to-height ratio. For South Asians, fat stored around the middle drives diabetes and heart risk, and the waist often flags it before BMI does.
Asian / South Asian BMI cut-offs
| Category | Asian BMI | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy | 18.5 to 22.9 | 18.5 to 24.9 |
| Overweight / increased risk | 23 to 27.4 | 25 to 29.9 |
| Obese / high risk | 27.5 and above | 30 and above |
A BMI of 23 marks where risk begins to climb for South Asians. Source: WHO Asia-Pacific classification and India's 2025 revised obesity guidelines.
India in context
39.5%
of Indian adults have abdominal obesity, the fat pattern these lower cut-offs are designed to catch.
Source: ICMR-INDIAB national study, Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2023.
Why Indians need lower BMI cut-offs
At the same BMI, people of South Asian origin tend to carry more body fat, and more of it around the organs, than White European populations. Type 2 diabetes and heart disease appear at lower BMI levels as a result. In January 2025, Indian experts from AIIMS, Fortis C-DOC and N-DOC formally redefined obesity for Asian Indians, the first update in 15 years, treating a BMI above 23 as the starting point for obesity assessment. Because South Asians store fat centrally, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio are as important as the BMI number itself.
For the full background, read BMI for South Asians and Indians. Want the general-population view instead? Use the standard BMI calculator.
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Sources used on this page
BMI = weight (kg) / height (m squared). The formula is identical to the standard chart. Only the interpretation thresholds differ: healthy 18.5 to 22.9, increased risk 23 to 27.4, high risk 27.5 and above.