Body Shape Calculator

hip ÷ bust · waist ÷ hip · shape = the band those two ratios fall in

bust

Bust circumference at its fullest point, tape parallel to the floor (cm)

waist

Waist circumference at its narrowest point, after breathing out normally (cm)

hip

Hip circumference at the fullest point of the buttocks (cm)

Use it when you want a name for where your measurements sit — most often because you are choosing clothes, or because you are tracking how the proportions change as your weight does. Measure on bare skin or light clothing, keep the tape snug rather than tight and level all the way round, and take each measurement twice. If what you are after is a health reading rather than a shape, the BMI page is the one built for that question; this page deliberately stays on the descriptive side of the line.

1. 92 / 68 / 95 cm

   1. Hip ÷ bust: 95 ÷ 92 = 1.0326, shown as 1.03 — under the 1.05 line, so neither side is wider
   2. Waist ÷ hip: 68 ÷ 95 = 0.7158, shown as 0.72
   3. 0.72 is at or under 0.75, so the shape is an hourglass
   4. Waist ÷ bust: 68 ÷ 92 = 0.7391, shown as 0.74

   Only three centimetres separate the bust and the hip here, which is what keeps the first test from firing, and the second test then does the deciding. The three ratios are printed because they are what the name is read from — a reader who disagrees with the label can see exactly which line produced it.

2. 86 / 70 / 96 cm

   1. Hip ÷ bust: 96 ÷ 86 = 1.1163, shown as 1.12 — more than 5 per cent wider, so the shape is a pear
   2. Waist ÷ hip: 70 ÷ 96 = 0.7292, shown as 0.73
   3. 0.73 would also pass the hourglass test, but the hip-to-bust difference is judged first

   This is the case that shows why the order of the two tests matters: the waist is narrow enough to look like an hourglass on that number alone, and the wider hip decides otherwise. Where the weight sits is a harder signal than how narrow the waist is, so it is read first.

The two lines used here — five per cent between bust and hip, 0.75 for the waist — are conventions, not standards, and different charts draw them in different places. Where you put the tape matters more than anything else on the page: two centimetres of slip at the waist moves the ratio by about 0.02 to 0.03, which is enough to cross the line between two names. The four categories do not describe everyone, and the boundary cases are exactly the people who will find two charts disagreeing about them. The labels are descriptive and carry no judgement about health, fitness or attractiveness — none of them is better than another, and this page shows them all in the same neutral colour for that reason. It also prints no health threshold: the waist and waist-to-hip figures used for risk come from the WHO and NHLBI reports in the references, and turning this page's convention into a risk statement would be a claim it cannot support.

How do I measure my bust, waist and hip?

Stand in front of a mirror with the tape level all the way round and snug rather than tight. The bust is measured at its fullest point, usually over the nipples. The waist is the narrowest point of the torso, roughly halfway between the lowest rib and the hip bone, measured after breathing out normally rather than pulling the stomach in. The hip is the fullest point of the buttocks, which is usually lower than people expect. Measure each twice and write down the numbers — a 2 cm difference at the waist moves the ratio by about 0.02 to 0.03, which can be the difference between two of the names.

What do the four body shapes mean?

An hourglass figure has the bust and hip within five per cent of each other with a comparatively narrow waist. A pear shaped body has hips more than five per cent wider than the bust. An inverted triangle body is the reverse, with the bust more than five per cent wider than the hip. A rectangle has the bust and hip close together too, but with less difference between the waist and the hip, so the waist is less defined. The names describe where weight sits; they say nothing about how much of it there is.

Is an hourglass shape better than the others?

No. The four categories describe proportions, not quality — none is healthier, fitter or more attractive than another, and every one of them is somebody's ordinary body. That is why this page shows all four in the same neutral colour rather than in graded tones: a colour would be a judgement, and there is nothing here to judge.

Does my body shape say anything about my health?

The shape label itself, no. What carries information about metabolic risk is where fat is stored, which is read from waist circumference and from the waist to hip ratio in absolute terms — and the thresholds for those come from the WHO and NHLBI reports rather than from this page. The number this page prints, waist divided by hip, is the same quantity those reports use; what differs is that the page applies the shape convention's 0.75 line to it rather than a risk line. Take the number to those reports if that is the question you are asking.

Why do other sites give me a different shape?

Two reasons. Some charts judge shoulder width against hip rather than bust against hip, which is a different measurement and gives a different answer on the same body. Others place the lines elsewhere, and some are built for clothing rather than for measurement, so their categories follow garment blocks. If your result here looks wrong, check the three numbers you entered against the measuring instructions above first — the answer is reproducible from those numbers, so a different tape measurement reads a different shape.

Can my body shape change?

The proportions move with weight change, with training and with age, and pregnancy changes them outright. Where you lose weight from is not something you choose, so a pear shape does not turn into an hourglass on request; what tends to happen is that the same shape gets smaller. Muscle gain in the shoulders and back can shift the bust-to-hip comparison, which is the one change that reliably alters the label without much movement on the scale.

• Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic (WHO Technical Report Series 894) — World Health Organization
• Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults — National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 1998