What Is The Average Weight For Men Worldwide?

All over the world, women are often objectified based on their appearance. Take "Blondes have more fun," for example. The pressure of physical beauty is not limited to heterosexual women. Women often describe their perfect man as "tall, dark, and handsome," whose origin is quite interesting. According to Mel Magazine, the idea of a "tall, dark, and handsome" man comes from "upper-class Europeans in the 1600s," meaning it was quite specific to men of the Caucasian race. The terminology originally represented men of privilege and slowly expanded to immigrants who were uber-masculine. Actors like Cary Grant and Clark Gable fit the phenotype. In the 1900s, pulp fiction novels made the terminology quite synonymous with desirable men's traits, where dark actually meant "a roughish man" rather than the color of their skin (via Inverse). While personality traits play an important role, the handsome physical appearance was a biological code representing good genes and the higher probability of healthy offspring. 

Weight can also play a role in influencing a person's overall attractiveness, which can vary from one country to another. However, it is a sensitive topic, and ideal weight may differ from one culture to another. According to Medical News Today, a person's healthy weight depends on their BMI (Body Mass Index), which takes both the height and weight into consideration, with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 considered healthiest. However, the average weight of men worldwide might not be what you think.

According to WebMD, the average height of people has remained somewhat consistent in the past 20 years, but the average weight and BMI have continued to increase, which has increased mortality rates due to obesity in the US. Healthline shared that the average weight of a man in the US was about 166.3 pounds in the 1960s and is now about 197.9 pounds. Considering the average weight of men in various countries and continents, the average weight of a man is higher in the US as the number is 156.1 pounds in Europe. You can blame a sedentary lifestyle and easy access to unhealthy food choices for that majority of the time.

World Data shared the average weights of men in kilograms (kgs) from 127 countries, with Timor Leste having the lowest with 53.9 kgs (118.8 pounds) and the Cook Islands with the highest average weight of 103.7 kgs (228.1 pounds). Comparing the 127 countries, the average weight for men worldwide is 78.1 kgs or 171.9 pounds. Interesting, right? In 2012, BMC Public Health shared that the combined average weight of men and women worldwide is 136.7 pounds. Asia has the lowest average of 127.2 pounds, and North America has the highest with 177.9 pounds. With men weighing slightly more than women on average, the average weight worldwide for men and women combined is lower than just men.

While the BMI can give you a range to tell you whether you are at a "healthy" weight, it does not consider how fat and muscle influence weight. Your physical activity level can affect your weight. Healthline reported that two people of the same weight who have different proportions of fat versus muscle can influence their overall health because "muscle is denser than fat." So a more athletic person with more muscle might weigh more than a non-athletic person but be in better physical health. Here, weighing more is not a sign of being unhealthier.

Another factor that can affect men's weight is their race because, according to Medical News Today, Black people have the least amount of body fat compared to Asian and white people. Your weight is a combination of the weight of bones, tissues, fat, muscles, organs, and blood, and the percentage can vary based on your race. WebMD shared an interesting fact that being at a normal weight does not necessarily mean good health because race can affect what health issues you are more likely to have. Apparently, South Asians are twice as likely to have heart diseases or diabetes issues even at a normal weight. Hispanics have 80 percent more possibility of having similar health issues than white descents, even if both have normal weights. Therefore, weight might not always be the best indicator of good health.