🇫🇮Average BMI in Finland

Key numbers

Estimated share in each WHO category

Columns may not sum to 100 because of rounding. Real BMI distributions have a longer right tail than a normal curve, so the obese share here is probably a few points low.

Finland among its neighbours

What a given BMI means in Finland

Read it as: a man with BMI 30 in Finland has a higher BMI than 77% of men. Values under 1% or over 99% are shown as <1 and >99.

In plain language

The standard deviation for men in Finland is 4.8. About two thirds of men have a BMI between 21.7 and 31.3; for women the middle two thirds run from 20.1 to 31.3. Compared with the global mean, men here are 2.0 points higher and women 0.9 points higher.

BMI does not distinguish muscle from fat, and the WHO bands were set on European populations. For South and East Asian populations the same BMI carries more health risk, which is why several countries there use 23 and 27.5 as their own cut-offs.

Questions

What is the average BMI in Finland?

26.5 for men and 25.7 for women, with standard deviations of 4.8 and 5.6. Averaged across the sexes that is 26.1, against a global figure of 24.6.

What share of adults in Finland are overweight or obese?

Our estimate from the mean and SD: 62% of men have a BMI of 25 or more, and 23% are at 30 or more. For women it is 55% and 22%. These assume a normal curve, so the true obesity shares are likely a few points higher.

Is a BMI of 25 high in Finland?

A BMI of 25 is the WHO line between healthy weight and overweight. In Finland it is higher than about 38% of men and 45% of women. So for men here it is below the middle of the pack.

How does Finland compare with Morocco?

Men in Morocco average 25.6 against 26.5 in Finland; women 26.7 against 25.7. Morocco ranks 101st, Finland 102nd.