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BMI Percentile Growth Charts
BMI percentile tables developed by WHO for boys and girls aged up to 5 years old help determine whether a child is developing harmoniously from a height and weight perspective.
Determining the percentile may help paediatricians and other health workers evaluate whether the child has a normal weight, is underweight, overweight or obese:
| Child’s weight status | Growth Chart Percentile |
| Underweight | below the 5th percentile |
| Normal weight | between the 5th and 84th percentile |
| Overweight | between the 85th and 94th percentile |
| Obese | at or above the 95th percentile |
The BMI percentile is a simple to identify and compare indicator of thinness and fatness in childhood and is based on the BMI formula:
Body Mass Index (BMI) = Body mass in kg / (Height in m)2
Child BMI charts with standards that were developed using data collected in the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study help retrieve under which percentile the child’s BMI is, based on their age. Usually, BMI percentiles below the 5th or above the 95th are concerning.
With respect to comparing growth at different ages, it is important that the child is placed under the normal growth percentile line and that they usually follow the same line during two different measurement at two different moments.
References
World Health Organization. Child Growth Standards: BMI-for-age tables, Boys percentiles
World Health Organization. Child Growth Standards: BMI-for-age tables, Girls percentiles
