🇲🇽Average BMI in Mexico

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.

Mexico among its neighbours

What a given BMI means in Mexico

Read it as: a man with BMI 30 in Mexico has a higher BMI than 67% of men. Values under 1% or over 99% are shown as <1 and >99.

In plain language

The standard deviation for men in Mexico is 5.5. About two thirds of men have a BMI between 22.1 and 33.1; for women the middle two thirds run from 22.2 to 35.0. Compared with the global mean, men here are 3.1 points higher and women 3.8 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 Mexico?

27.6 for men and 28.6 for women, with standard deviations of 5.5 and 6.4. Averaged across the sexes that is 28.1, against a global figure of 24.6.

What share of adults in Mexico are overweight or obese?

Our estimate from the mean and SD: 68% of men have a BMI of 25 or more, and 33% are at 30 or more. For women it is 71% and 41%. These assume a normal curve, so the true obesity shares are likely a few points higher.

Is a BMI of 25 high in Mexico?

A BMI of 25 is the WHO line between healthy weight and overweight. In Mexico it is higher than about 32% of men and 29% of women. So for men here it is below the middle of the pack.

How does Mexico compare with Chile?

Men in Chile average 28.0 against 27.6 in Mexico; women 28.3 against 28.6. Chile ranks 22nd, Mexico 23rd.