If you could find out how you measure up, so to speak, against everyone else on the planet –  in terms of where you stand on the global fat scale -would you be interested?

If so, then today is your lucky day because the BBC has just put a tool together why which you can do just that.

With the assistance of a recently published study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the BBC has designed an online calculator that allows you to find out where you sit on what they have named the global fat scale.

Using UN data on population size in 177 countries, together with estimates of global weight from the WHO and mean height from national health examination surveys the team were able to calculate average BMI figures for each country.

Using the values that you input into the calculator, it works out your BMI as well as where you are in relation to the rest of the population in your country and the world for your gender and age.

Just between us, I find this fascinating.   Simply plug in some basic info, and up comes a readout.

How the global fat calculator works

The new BBC calculator can tell you if you are a healthy weight for your height and how you rank against others globally.

Using your age, sex, nationality, height and weight, it will come up with a number representing your Body Mass Index (BMI),  one measure doctors use to gauge obesity.  The BBC application then  plots your BMI and shows how you compare to people from your own and other nations.

Researchers see global weight gain as a bigger threat to mankind than population growth. As well as the health implications, experts are also concerned about the environmental impact. The adult human population has a combined weight of 287,000,000 tonnes, researchers say. Increasing obesity could have the same impact on global resources as an extra billion people, they believe.

How I measured up

To give you an example, I ran my numbers through the quick calculator application.  Within a few seconds, here are the results that popped up:

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BMI:  21

National ranking:  Lower BMI than 92% of females in my age group in my country

Global ranking:  Lower BMI than 76% of females in my age group in my country

“Did you know” factoid:   If everyone in the world had the same BMI as you, it would remove 29,443,836 tonnes from the total weight of the world’s population

You are most like someone from:  Papua New Guinea

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What does it all mean?

Granted, this takes into account those who are in impoverished countries, far from our overfed and gluttonous United States.  It doesn’t mean we should ‘aspire’ to be like the indigent.  And to be fair, many of our own US citizens do not have enough to eat.  Nonetheless, a fascinating quick study of world populations, corpulence, and where you fit in on the global scale.

Run your own numbers theough the global fat scale calculator here.

 

Question for you:

What do you think of this application?  Did you find it interesting as did I?  Share your thoughts in replies below.

 

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