Leaner, or more women? Both, mostly.

88 of 91 markets are leaner than the USA, and 46 of those are female-skewed too. The trade-off the pitch assumes does not show up in the data.

Scatter plot of mean female BMI against the pooled male-to-female ratio at ages 20 to 39, one dot per market, with the USA marked in red

Dot area is women in the band. Colour is the same ratio the vertical axis shows, on the site's shared 94/100/112 ramp.

Download the chart (PNG) Download all 91 markets (CSV)

What the chart says

The shaded quadrant — leaner than the USA and more women than men — holds 46 of 91 markets.
The USA sits at BMI 27.7 and 102.2 men per 100 women: the highest BMI on the chart, and male-skewed.
Ethiopia is the leanest at 20.9. Nigeria is the most male-skewed at 123.5 men per 100 women, driven by migrant labour in its two biggest cities.
The cloud has no slope. A better ratio does not cost body composition, in either direction.

All 91

Every market carrying both a mean female BMI and enough census weight to pool a ratio, best ratio first.

#	Market	Cities pooled	Men per 100 women	Mean BMI, women	Implied weight	Obese women, %
1	Uganda	10	85.1	23.1	128 lb	14.1
2	Zimbabwe	9	85.8	24.3	137 lb	21.3
3	Honduras	10	86.2	26.9	143 lb	39.3
4	Nepal	8	88.9	22.2	114 lb	10.3
5	Kyrgyzstan	10	89.5	25.2	142 lb	25.5
6	Zambia	10	91.7	23.0	125 lb	17.1
7	El Salvador	6	92.1	27.5	148 lb	38.8
8	Kenya	6	92.5	24.0	135 lb	16.8
9	Nicaragua	10	92.7	27.0	144 lb	40.3
10	Poland	6	93.1	24.1	146 lb	17.6
11	United Kingdom	10	93.2	26.1	154 lb	28.9
12	Peru	3	93.4	26.3	138 lb	33.3
13	Moldova	5	93.4	25.4	149 lb	23.1
14	Brazil	6	93.5	25.7	150 lb	33.9
15	Ecuador	10	93.8	26.8	143 lb	33.9
16	Armenia	11	93.9	24.9	140 lb	28.5
17	Myanmar	5	94.6	22.6	119 lb	10.4
18	Mongolia	8	94.7	25.6	144 lb	26.9
19	Romania	8	94.8	25.2	151 lb	30.0
20	Ghana	8	95.2	24.6	137 lb	23.9
21	Bolivia	10	95.3	27.0	144 lb	35.9
22	Sri Lanka	10	95.7	23.2	124 lb	15.0
23	Argentina	9	95.9	25.9	148 lb	38.4
24	Albania	9	96.0	25.0	145 lb	24.7
25	Senegal	9	96.0	22.9	136 lb	18.4
26	Morocco	8	96.3	25.7	147 lb	29.9
27	France	10	96.4	22.7	135 lb	11.7
28	Serbia	6	96.6	23.6	148 lb	18.2
29	Venezuela	9	96.7	25.8	146 lb	25.4
30	Cambodia	6	96.9	22.1	117 lb	6.2
31	Ethiopia	8	97.0	20.9	114 lb	4.4
32	Colombia	8	97.2	25.4	140 lb	30.7
33	Thailand	16	97.4	24.5	138 lb	19.6
34	Latvia	6	97.6	24.2	152 lb	21.3
35	Croatia	9	97.6	24.8	152 lb	27.0
36	Russia	10	97.7	24.8	148 lb	18.0
37	Guatemala	9	98.1	26.5	133 lb	32.2
38	Paraguay	6	98.4	25.9	146 lb	39.8
39	Kazakhstan	11	98.4	24.7	142 lb	21.2
40	Georgia	6	98.4	25.6	151 lb	36.1
41	Japan	10	98.6	21.0	116 lb	3.7
42	Ireland	4	98.7	25.8	154 lb	27.1
43	Portugal	9	99.0	23.5	135 lb	19.0
44	Panama	6	99.1	26.9	149 lb	45.0
45	Belarus	7	99.4	24.7	152 lb	21.7
46	Vietnam	7	99.5	21.6	119 lb	2.4
47	Canada	10	100.0	25.5	152 lb	24.4
48	Australia	15	100.1	25.6	153 lb	29.7
49	New Zealand	10	100.2	27.2	163 lb	35.7
50	Netherlands	6	100.3	23.9	153 lb	15.1
51	Denmark	4	100.5	23.5	149 lb	13.2
52	South Korea	6	100.6	22.2	130 lb	6.0
53	Uruguay	6	100.8	25.5	147 lb	37.7
54	Finland	10	100.8	23.8	146 lb	24.7
55	Germany	10	100.9	24.2	147 lb	19.1
56	Belgium	6	101.0	24.2	142 lb	22.0
57	Indonesia	12	101.1	23.8	125 lb	16.6
58	Iran	8	101.2	26.2	150 lb	30.4
59	Sweden	10	101.2	24.3	149 lb	16.5
60	Norway	10	101.3	24.7	151 lb	19.2
61	Spain	9	101.5	23.0	133 lb	13.0
62	Turkey	7	101.6	26.6	154 lb	35.2
63	Czechia	10	102.0	24.0	149 lb	22.1
64	South Africa	10	102.0	28.1	156 lb	47.5
65	Israel	10	102.0	25.1	146 lb	22.1
66	Pakistan	7	102.1	24.0	127 lb	28.0
67	United States of America	27	102.2	27.7	163 lb	42.4
68	Greece	8	102.8	24.8	150 lb	26.9
69	Philippines	12	102.9	23.3	122 lb	11.6
70	Tanzania	10	103.2	23.7	129 lb	16.2
71	Slovakia	9	103.3	23.6	145 lb	22.0
72	Costa Rica	7	103.6	26.8	152 lb	39.4
73	Chile	10	103.7	27.0	151 lb	46.4
74	Bulgaria	6	103.9	24.1	144 lb	17.3
75	Egypt	9	103.9	29.9	171 lb	57.1
76	Estonia	6	104.0	24.1	151 lb	20.0
77	Austria	6	104.4	23.3	143 lb	13.3
78	Mexico	6	105.3	27.3	150 lb	41.4
79	Hungary	8	105.8	24.6	143 lb	27.9
80	Cuba	10	105.9	25.3	143 lb	26.2
81	Italy	10	106.2	23.1	133 lb	13.3
82	Rwanda	9	109.0	23.2	126 lb	8.8
83	Lithuania	3	109.5	23.8	147 lb	19.5
84	India	10	109.8	21.5	114 lb	10.4
85	Slovenia	3	110.4	25.5	157 lb	13.3
86	China	20	112.8	22.8	134 lb	8.4
87	Bangladesh	7	113.0	22.0	113 lb	8.6
88	Bhutan	9	119.1	24.4	130 lb	16.9
89	Malaysia	6	120.1	25.5	139 lb	28.9
90	Jordan	8	120.8	27.5	154 lb	41.9
91	Nigeria	8	123.5	23.3	129 lb	18.9

The ratio is pooled across that market's publishable cities (Σmen / Σwomen), so it is population-weighted. Implied weight is BMI × height², not measured.

Where this is wrong

Two different levels on one chart, stated rather than blended: the BMI is national, the ratio is pooled from cities.
22 cities held back — their 20–39 census arrays hold fewer than 5,000 people, which is not a population count.
12 market excluded (ARE, AZE, CHE, CIV, CYP, ISL, KWT, LBN, LUX, MNE, PNG, UZB): every one of its cities carries the same national age×sex array, so its pooled band came to more people than its cities hold.
BMI is a 2016 release re-weighted to 20–39; the census arrays are current. Different vintages.
A mean BMI is not a body. It is the one number published at this level.

Sources

NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) · National statistics offices (census age×sex)

The same ratio against cost, city by city, is on the cost chart.

More charts

Compare the cities, not the countries →

This chart is one dot per country. The ratio, cost and safety underneath it are per city, and they differ hard inside a market.

The per-market deep-dives — 13 tabs of cost, visa, tax, safety and sub-national ratio for one country — are behind the Pro gate. Everything on this page is not.

Data updated 4 September 2026