BMI for Indians: Why the Standard Chart Can Mislead You

For Indian adults, a healthy BMI is 18.5 to about 23, not 18.5 to 24.9 as on the standard WHO chart. Indian expert guidelines treat a BMI of 23 as overweight and 25 as obesity; ICMR-NIN's dietary guidelines also start overweight at 23. So a man who is 170 cm tall and weighs 70 kg, with a BMI of 24.2, is "normal" on the WHO chart but overweight by Indian standards. South Asians tend to carry more body fat, especially around the waist, at the same BMI, and develop diabetes and heart disease at lower weights.

The free BMI calculator gives your BMI to one decimal place, a category and a healthy weight range for your height. Its categories follow the WHO chart, so this guide shows how to read the result against the Indian cut-offs, why waist size matters as much as BMI, what changed in 2025, and what the site's BMR, ideal weight and water intake calculators add.

How BMI is calculated

BMI (body mass index) is your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in metres. For 70 kg and 170 cm: 1.70 × 1.70 = 2.89, and 70 ÷ 2.89 = 24.2. It takes no account of age, sex or how much of your weight is muscle, which is why it works as a quick screening number and not as a diagnosis.

WHO chart vs Indian cut-offs

Two sets of Asian cut-offs are in use in India, and both lower the healthy range compared with the international WHO chart:

The Indian consensus statement, published by a group of Indian experts led by Dr Anoop Misra in 2009, set overweight at 23–24.9 and obesity at 25 and above, noting that "limits of normal BMI are narrower and lower in Asian Indians than in white Caucasians". ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) recommend a BMI between 18.5 and 23 for Asians and use 27.5 as the start of obesity, which follows the "public health action points" a WHO expert consultation published in The Lancet in 2004. That WHO consultation found Asians face higher risk at lower BMIs, kept the international chart for worldwide comparison, and suggested 23 and 27.5 as extra points for action in Asian populations.

Both agree on the number that matters most: above a BMI of 23, an Indian adult should take their weight seriously.

Reading your result: five examples

These are the calculator's results for five adults, with the category each falls into under the two Indian sets:

The calculator's "healthy weight range" uses BMI 18.5 to 24.9; for 170 cm it shows 53.5 – 72 kg. For the Indian upper limit, multiply your height in metres squared by 22.9: 2.89 × 22.9 = 66.2 kg. So for an Indian adult of 170 cm the healthy range is about 53.5–66 kg, roughly 6 kg lower at the top than the calculator shows.

Measure your waist too

Fat around the abdomen carries more risk than fat elsewhere, and BMI can't see where your fat is. The Indian consensus defines abdominal obesity as a waist of 90 cm or more in men and 80 cm or more in women, and ICMR-NIN links waists above those figures to a higher risk of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The 2025 Indian revision also uses waist-to-height ratio, with above 0.5 counted as excess.

Measure around your bare waist midway between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone, at the end of a normal breath out, without pulling the tape tight. A 170 cm man with a 92 cm waist is over the 90 cm mark, and his waist-to-height ratio is 92 ÷ 170 = 0.54, above 0.5. That flags risk even if his BMI were normal.

What changed in 2025

Two definitions published in January 2025 move away from judging obesity by BMI alone:

• Revised definition of obesity in Asian Indians (Misra and colleagues with the India Obesity Commission, in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews). It calls a BMI above 23 obesity and divides it into two stages. Stage 1 is extra fat (BMI above 23) without effects on organ function or daily activities. Stage 2 needs a BMI above 23 plus a raised waist or waist-to-height ratio, together with symptoms that limit daily activities or an obesity-related condition such as diabetes. Under this proposal, the 170 cm, 70 kg man above has stage 1 obesity rather than "overweight".
• The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology commission on clinical obesity (Rubino and colleagues). It separates "preclinical obesity" (excess fat with organs still working normally) from "clinical obesity" (a chronic illness in which excess fat is already affecting the body's functions), and says BMI should be used only as a population-level measure of risk, with excess fat confirmed by a waist measure or a body fat measurement.

The Indian revision is an expert consensus, not an official government guideline, and ICMR-NIN's 2024 guidelines still use the cut-offs in the table above. The practical message of both is the same: check your waist as well as your BMI.

What BMI can't tell you

• Muscle and fat look the same to BMI. A muscular gym-goer can read "overweight" while lean; someone with little muscle can read "normal" with a lot of body fat. The body fat calculator (US Navy tape method) is a rough second opinion; the guide to measuring body fat at home shows how to take the measurements.
• It isn't for children and teenagers. Under-18s are assessed with BMI-for-age charts, because a healthy BMI changes as they grow.
• It doesn't fit pregnancy, and it is less reliable in older adults, who lose muscle and height with age.

BMR, ideal weight and water: what the other calculators add

BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body uses at rest. The BMR calculator uses the Mifflin–St Jeor equation: for a 30-year-old man of 70 kg and 170 cm it gives 1,618 kcal a day, and then multiplies that by activity levels from 1.2 (1,941 kcal, sedentary) to 1.725 (2,790 kcal, heavy exercise). It is an estimate, and equations built mostly on Western data may run high for Indians: ICMR-NIN's expert committee noted in 2020 that the international FAO/WHO/UNU equations can overestimate Indians' BMR by 10–12%, because Indians tend to carry relatively more fat. If you use the number to plan a diet, check it against your weight over a few weeks. The guide on calculating your TDEE shows how.

Ideal weight from the ideal weight calculator uses the Devine formula: 50 kg for a man at 5 feet (152.4 cm), or 45.5 kg for a woman, plus 2.3 kg for every inch above that. For a 170 cm man it gives 65.9 kg, a BMI of 22.8, right at the Indian upper limit; for a 155 cm woman, 47.9 kg (BMI 19.9). The formula was devised in 1974 to work out medicine doses, not to describe how anyone should look, so treat it as one point inside a healthy range, not a target.

Water intake. The water intake calculator multiplies your weight by 33 ml and adds 12 ml for every minute of exercise. For 70 kg and 30 minutes of exercise it suggests 2.7 litres; for 58 kg and no exercise, 1.9 litres. Official figures are similar: ICMR-NIN suggests about eight glasses (roughly 2 litres) of water and other drinks a day for a healthy person, and the European Food Safety Authority sets adequate intakes of 2.0 litres a day for women and 2.5 litres for men, counting water from food as well as drinks, in moderate temperatures and activity. You need more in an Indian summer, in heavy physical work and during fever or diarrhoea. People with kidney or heart conditions who have been told to limit fluids should follow their doctor's advice, not a calculator.

This article is general information, not medical advice. If your BMI or waist is above the Indian cut-offs, a doctor can check your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol, which matter more than the number on the scale.

Frequently asked questions

What is a healthy BMI for Indians?

18.5 to about 23. Both the Indian consensus guidelines and ICMR-NIN's 2024 dietary guidelines put the start of overweight at 23, lower than the WHO chart's 25.

Is a BMI of 24 overweight for an Indian?

Yes. It is in the overweight range under both Indian sets of cut-offs, even though the calculator, which uses the WHO chart, shows it as normal weight. Under the 2025 expert revision it would count as stage 1 obesity.

What waist size is healthy for Indian men and women?

Below 90 cm for men and below 80 cm for women. A waist-to-height ratio below 0.5 is another simple check: your waist should be less than half your height.

What is the ideal weight for 5 feet 6 inches?

At 167.6 cm, a BMI of 18.5 to 22.9 means about 52 to 64 kg. The Devine formula in the ideal weight calculator gives 63.8 kg for a man and 59.3 kg for a woman, both inside that range.

How much water should I drink a day?

For most healthy adults, about 2 litres of water and other drinks is a sensible baseline, more in hot weather or with exercise.

Sources: Misra A et al., consensus statement for diagnosis of obesity, abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome for Asian Indians, Journal of the Association of Physicians of India (2009); Misra A et al., Revised definition of obesity in Asian Indians living in India, Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews 19 (2025); ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Dietary Guidelines for Indians (2024) and Nutrient Requirements for Indians, brief note (2020); WHO Expert Consultation, The Lancet 363 (2004); Rubino F et al., Definition and diagnostic criteria of clinical obesity, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (2025); Mifflin MD et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1990); EFSA, Dietary reference values for water (2010).