🇪🇸Average BMI in Spain

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.

Spain among its neighbours

What a given BMI means in Spain

Read it as: a man with BMI 30 in Spain has a higher BMI than 72% of men. Values under 1% or over 99% are shown as <1 and >99.

In plain language

The standard deviation for men in Spain is 4.9. About two thirds of men have a BMI between 22.3 and 32.1; for women the middle two thirds run from 19.2 to 30.6. Compared with the global mean, men here are 2.7 points higher and women 0.1 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 Spain?

27.2 for men and 24.9 for women, with standard deviations of 4.9 and 5.7. Averaged across the sexes that is 26.0, against a global figure of 24.6.

What share of adults in Spain are overweight or obese?

Our estimate from the mean and SD: 67% of men have a BMI of 25 or more, and 28% are at 30 or more. For women it is 49% and 19%. These assume a normal curve, so the true obesity shares are likely a few points higher.

Is a BMI of 25 high in Spain?

A BMI of 25 is the WHO line between healthy weight and overweight. In Spain it is higher than about 33% of men and 51% of women. So for men here it is below the middle of the pack.

How does Spain compare with Finland?

Men in Finland average 26.5 against 27.2 in Spain; women 25.7 against 24.9. Finland ranks 102nd, Spain 103rd.