With the aid of a recently published study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the BBC was able to construct an online calculator that lets users determine where they fall on 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.

"Wow, I was shocked to see how high my BMI was," said American citizen Michelle Laverty, whose BMI is 38. "I'm aware I'm overweight. I guess I hadn't given it that much thought and thought about it globally. Its interesting that I am like someone from Tonga. Goodness, imagine that."

[H/T: MeFi]