Ten destinations vs. the USA, to scale
Mean height and mean BMI of women aged 20–39, drawn at true relative height. US women average 163 lb — 47 lb more than Japan, the lightest of the ten.
Vertical is mean height on a shared axis. Width is √(BMI × height), applied below the neck only — the shapes are schematic, the heights are to scale.
What the chart says
- US women have the highest BMI of the eleven at 27.7, against Japan's 21.0. The height spread is far smaller than the weight spread: 5′1″ to 5′6″ against 116 lb to 163 lb.
Where this is wrong
- Weight is implied from BMI and height, not measured.
- Height is NCD-RisC's mean at age 19; BMI is the 2016 release re-weighted to ages 20–39. They are different vintages.
- Country means say nothing about any individual, and nothing about a particular city.
- The ten destinations are the most-discussed on r/thepassportbros, not a ranking of anything.
Sources
NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
Ratio, cost and safety by city are on the research desk.
More charts
Shortlist by the numbers that move →
Height barely varies between these countries; the ratio, cost and safety do — those are the ones worth sorting on.
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