Average BMI in South Africa
Men in South Africa have an average BMI of 25.1, women 29.6. Both means fall in the WHO overweight band for men and overweight for women. That puts South Africa 43rd of 186 countries in our data, ranked from highest BMI to lowest.
Key numbers
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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.
South Africa among its neighbours
What a given BMI means in South Africa
Read it as: a man with BMI 30 in South Africa has a higher BMI than 83% of men. Values under 1% or over 99% are shown as <1 and >99.
In plain language
The standard deviation for men in South Africa is 5.2. About two thirds of men have a BMI between 19.9 and 30.3; for women the middle two thirds run from 22.6 to 36.6. Compared with the global mean, men here are 0.6 points higher and women 4.8 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 South Africa?
- 25.1 for men and 29.6 for women, with standard deviations of 5.2 and 7.0. Averaged across the sexes that is 27.4, against a global figure of 24.6.
- What share of adults in South Africa are overweight or obese?
- Our estimate from the mean and SD: 51% of men have a BMI of 25 or more, and 17% are at 30 or more. For women it is 74% and 48%. These assume a normal curve, so the true obesity shares are likely a few points higher.
- Is a BMI of 25 high in South Africa?
- A BMI of 25 is the WHO line between healthy weight and overweight. In South Africa it is higher than about 49% of men and 26% of women. For men here that is roughly the median.
- How does South Africa compare with United Kingdom?
- Men in United Kingdom average 27.5 against 25.1 in South Africa; women 27.2 against 29.6. United Kingdom ranks 42nd, South Africa 43rd.
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, Lancet 2017, age-standardised mean BMI for 2016. Percentiles on this page are our estimate from a normal distribution with the stated mean and SD.
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Check your BMI against South AfricaAlso by country: Average height by country and Life expectancy by country.