# Body Composition Reference

> The median published figure in the Body Composition Reference is 20.50 percent across 2 sources' own pages (range 18 to 23 percent), read 12 October 2026.

Strength Standards Calc · https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/body-composition-reference/ · computed 2026-10-19

**Median published figure:** 20.5 % (range 18 to 23 %; 2 published figures; 2 of 14 sources read publish one).

2 of the 14 named sources read in full publish a figure; 12 publish none, read 12 October 2026.

The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 20.50 percent across 2).

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Read |
|---|---|---|
| [NHANES DXA body composition reference values (full text)](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007038) | 23 % | 2026-10-12 |
| [American Council on Exercise body fat percentage categories](https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/in-the-news/8602/body-fat-percentage-charting-averages-in-men-and-women-very-well-health/) | 18 % | 2026-10-12 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (2)

- [NHANES DXA body composition reference values (full text)](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007038), read 2026-10-12: "In the 1988–1994 survey, the average male and female %fat values at age 25 were 23% and 34%, respectively [20]."
- [American Council on Exercise body fat percentage categories](https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/in-the-news/8602/body-fat-percentage-charting-averages-in-men-and-women-very-well-health/), read 2026-10-12: "According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), a body fat range of 25% to 31% for women or 18% to 24% for men is typical for the average nonathlete."

## Read in full, publishes no figure

- [CDC Adult BMI Categories](https://www.cdc.gov/bmi/adult-calculator/bmi-categories.html), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [CDC Adult BMI Calculator](https://www.cdc.gov/bmi/adult-calculator/index.html), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [NHS calculate your BMI (adults)](https://www.nhs.uk/health-assessment-tools/calculate-your-body-mass-index/calculate-bmi-for-adults), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [WHO obesity and overweight fact sheet](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [Statistics Canada, prevalence of overweight and obesity, CHMS 2022-2024](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251002/dq251002b-eng.htm), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [Statistics Canada table 13-10-0794-01, measured adult BMI by age group and sex](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310079401), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [ABS waist circumference and BMI, latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/waist-circumference-and-bmi/latest-release), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [Public Health Agency of Canada, obesity prevalence among adults](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/healthy-living/obesity-canada/adults.html), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [NSW Health body mass index calculator](https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/heal/Pages/bmi.aspx), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [NCHS Anthropometric Reference Data for Children and Adults, August 2021-August 2023](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK620755/), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [NHANES DXA body composition reference values (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19753111/), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [Kouri et al., fat-free mass index in users and nonusers of anabolic-androgenic steroids (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7496846/), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page

## Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 2 of the 14 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 12 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 1 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 7 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per jurisdiction per measure: the authority's published cut-points beside the measured population distribution from that country's own health survey, so a reader's own number returns a PERCENTILE by age and sex and not just a band. The derivation nobody publishes is the cross-authority spread on the same body - the same BMI is 'healthy' to the NHS and 'increased risk' to the same body at an Asian-ethnicity cut-off, and the same body-fat percentage is 'fitness' to ACE and above the NHANES median - plus the changed-since on each survey release.

## Sources

- [CDC Adult BMI Categories](https://www.cdc.gov/bmi/adult-calculator/bmi-categories.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [CDC Adult BMI Calculator](https://www.cdc.gov/bmi/adult-calculator/index.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NHS calculate your BMI (adults)](https://www.nhs.uk/health-assessment-tools/calculate-your-body-mass-index/calculate-bmi-for-adults) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [WHO obesity and overweight fact sheet](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Statistics Canada, prevalence of overweight and obesity, CHMS 2022-2024](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251002/dq251002b-eng.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Statistics Canada table 13-10-0794-01, measured adult BMI by age group and sex](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310079401) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [ABS waist circumference and BMI, latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/waist-circumference-and-bmi/latest-release) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Public Health Agency of Canada, obesity prevalence among adults](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/healthy-living/obesity-canada/adults.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NSW Health body mass index calculator](https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/heal/Pages/bmi.aspx) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NCHS Anthropometric Reference Data for Children and Adults, August 2021-August 2023](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK620755/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NHANES DXA body composition reference values (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19753111/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [Kouri et al., fat-free mass index in users and nonusers of anabolic-androgenic steroids (PubMed record)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7496846/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [NHANES DXA body composition reference values (full text)](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007038) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [American Council on Exercise body fat percentage categories](https://www.acefitness.org/about-ace/press-room/in-the-news/8602/body-fat-percentage-charting-averages-in-men-and-women-very-well-health/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [AIHW overweight and obesity report](https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/overweight-obesity/overweight-and-obesity/contents/summary) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- The median published figure in the Body Composition Reference is 20.50 percent across 2 sources' own pages (range 18 to 23 percent), read 12 October 2026.
- 2 of the 14 named sources read in full publish a figure; 12 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
- The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 20.50 percent across 2).

Cite as: "Strength Standards Calc Body Composition Reference", updated 2026-10-19, https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/body-composition-reference/.

CSV: https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/body-composition-reference.csv
JSON: https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/body-composition-reference.json
Embed (plain HTML, static link back): see https://strengthstandardscalc.com/datasets/body-composition-reference/#median