How to measure
Measure your waist at the narrowest point between the lowest rib and the top of the hip bone — for many people around the navel. Measure your hips at the widest point of the buttocks. Use the same units for both; the ratio is simply waist ÷ hip.
Technique matters more than people expect. Measure on bare skin or over thin clothing, keep the tape horizontal all the way round, stand relaxed with feet together, breathe out normally and do not hold your stomach in. Take each measurement twice and average them.
Worked example: a waist of 78 cm and hips of 100 cm gives 78 ÷ 100 = 0.78, which falls in the low-risk band for women.
WHO risk categories
| Risk | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Low | 0.80 or below | 0.95 or below |
| Moderate | 0.81–0.85 | 0.96–1.00 |
| High | 0.86 or above | Above 1.00 |
These thresholds come from a WHO expert consultation on waist circumference and waist–hip ratio, which reviewed the evidence linking abdominal fat distribution to cardiometabolic outcomes.
Why fat distribution matters
Fat stored around the abdomen — the "apple" pattern — includes visceral fat packed around the liver, pancreas and intestines. This tissue is metabolically active in ways subcutaneous fat is not: it releases free fatty acids directly into the portal circulation and secretes inflammatory signalling molecules, both of which are implicated in insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease.
Fat on the hips and thighs — the "pear" pattern — is largely subcutaneous and carries a considerably weaker association with metabolic risk. Some evidence suggests it may even be mildly protective, acting as a safer storage depot that keeps fat out of places it does more harm.
This is why two people at the same weight and BMI can have quite different risk profiles, and why a tape measure adds real information that a scale cannot.
WHR versus waist circumference alone
Worth knowing, because WHR has a genuine weakness. Being a ratio, it can stay flat while both measurements change together — someone losing fat everywhere may see little movement, and someone building substantial glute and hip muscle can see their ratio improve without losing any abdominal fat at all.
Waist circumference on its own avoids this by measuring the thing that actually matters. Many clinicians now favour it, or waist-to-height ratio, over WHR for exactly this reason. As a rough guide, a waist above 88 cm for women or 102 cm for men is commonly used as a raised-risk threshold, and the simple rule of keeping your waist under half your height is a decent screening heuristic.
Use WHR if you like, but track your raw waist measurement alongside it.
Changing it
You cannot spot-reduce abdominal fat. There is no exercise that preferentially burns fat from the area it trains, and abdominal exercises build the muscle underneath without removing the fat above it.
What does work is reducing overall body fat through a modest calorie deficit, and there is a genuine consolation here: visceral fat tends to be among the first to go when you lose weight. Many people see waist measurements fall faster than total body weight in early fat loss, which is encouraging when the scale is being stubborn.
Regular aerobic exercise is independently associated with lower visceral fat, and resistance training preserves the muscle that keeps your maintenance calories up. Sleep and alcohol both matter more than people assume — poor sleep is associated with increased abdominal adiposity, and alcohol contributes calories while impairing recovery.