...to think that it might not really be true that the UK average clothes size for women is UK size 16?

[which1]

I just can't help but think that that's not true. That this is the average has been floating around for years I know.

But whilst I do see some people who are size 16 or above, I do not think I see so many as to tip the scales to the extent that 16 becomes the average.

I would say that the average is a UK12.

(I'm not talking about on Mumsnet as the vast majority here are pretty slim and around size 8 average from all the threads that I see either about clothes sizes or posters who mention in passing on a related topic.)

measurements = dress size

www.dresssizes.org/uk-tsta.htm?utm_expid=77375470-1791.QjHAGF_AT-6TYkJsLKWg0Q.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F

@LittleDancers When I talk about being taller and having a large frame, I mean the width of my shoulders and the width of my pelvis. These are the bits that mean I go up a size so that I can actually get it on. Then I wind up with, in my experience, jackets and jeans that I could comfortably smuggle a small child in in front and still do up all the buttons and zips.

That's what your "frame" is. The bony bits that stick out. Yes, we have some fat there, but eg, I lost two stone in the past two years and have gone down an entire half a dress size. It's a significant loss, it just wasn't from the areas that determine if my tshirt goes past my head or not.

I'm a size 8 but in the late 70s/early 80s would have been a size 12.
Size 8 is definitely not orthorexic!

Where I'm from average size definitely over a 16!

Also, no one in this thread is really talking about the obesity problem

Ex-fucking-actly!!!! It's just another tiresome thread about aren't fat people vile. A couple of half-hearted comments professing concern about the obesity problem to try and disguise the real intent, but really, it's just another boring thread for people to slag off fatties and tell us their height and dress size. There should be a separate topic for this shite.

meh. i've been fat and also not-fat. surprise \o/ i'm not vile by anyones yardstick. i've never reduced my height or my weigh in response to public polling :D

When sizes are so random the whole discussion is meaningless. In my wardrobe there are clothes labelled 10 and clothes labelled 16, most are 12 or 14. They all fit.

Its hard to tell size of weight etc just from looking at the people around you. I wear a 14 comfortably, could probably fit into a 12 but i prefer to have a bit more space in my clothing.

I'm 5ft 4 and recently had to be weighed at hospital and the nurse was shocked at my weight because apparently i dont "look that heavy" but I'm fairly muscly.

That said, I'm the "skinny" one in my group of friends and so i can believe that 16 is the uk average

Something I think I figured about about the avg size = 16 claim..

It's based on waist growth alone.
In 1952 avg waist was 28", recently the waist became 34" avg.
Hips have only grown by < 2 inches (36 to 38), & bust has grown by 3-4" (36 to 40).

Nowadays... obviously, a lot of clothes are cut with large waists (I know this as an hourglass).

Elphane the median is one of the averages. The averages are mean, median and mode. They are all averages...measures of central tendency. Usually people mean 'the mean' when they say average. But they all are.

I think it's just area dependent. The average in my Midlands town is probably 12-14. One town over, it's at least a size bigger.
I was waiting on the bus the other week in that town and noticed that for the first time in my memory almost everyone in sight was overweight or obese.
Not judging...I'm obese myself...but it was a bit of a shock.

I think you’re right OP. I’m size 12 at the moment and I am the same size or bigger than most of my friends and family members. My mum I’d say is a 12, granny about the same (maybe 14 at a push), but most of my friends are between 8-12. I wouldn’t say I know many size 16s at all - even when I consider friends parents and older friends/relatives. I’d definitely have thought 12 is average if I had to estimate, and am surprised to hear it’s 16.

I think 16 is about average. I'm generally a 14. Currently 26w pg. And looking for a coat I knew a 16 normal clothes rather than maternity would be OK.
Everywhere was nearly out of 16s and even 18s but rails of smaller sizes.

Same when I wanted some comfy leggings for indoors.

Hauntedpinecone I think you're the only person that's used the word 'vile' on this thread.
I haven't noticed any posts 'slagging off fatties' (as you put it) either, perhaps you should report them?

I really don't understand the relevance of sizes thirty or forty years ago. It's totally and utterly irrelevant. It's about today. It always crops up on these threads, oh but four decades ago people were slimmer. So?

Yes sizes can differ by store. But generally we know what average size we are,even though in some shops we may need a bigger/smaller size.

However the question is is the average size in the U.K. a size 16. For me the answer is likely yes.

I'm 5'11, 12 stone and a size 14/16. I think (know) im too big, but I am very regularly described as slim. I think people equate tall/long limbed with being thin.

Also my DD is 13. Last year she was wearing size 4, this year size 6. She's pretty slim, but quite tall and with a relatively 'sturdy' frame, so i would guess she'll end up as a 10/12. So I do wonder if a lot of the 4-8 sizes in shops are being bought by teens.

If average female waist is now 34", and avg female height is 66 inches, then the avg ratio is in the unhealthy zone.

"I do wonder if a lot of the 4-8 sizes in shops are being bought by teens."

Definitely, but also sizes move up as you move into older women's shops so a 4-8 somewhere like M&S is much bigger, allowing a person to stay 'the same size' (!) throughout their life!

No wonder we're the most over weight country in Europe

How are they working out this 'average' if some women are buying their clothes in children's shops? (I know some very petite women, obviously!)

If they are going by 'clothing bought sizes', and very small women are buying large children's sizes, is that skewing the result toward the larger end of the spectrum?

11,000 people (all volunteers age 16+) surveyed, in 2016 I think.
Excluded Norn.

Volunteers: Means lots of fat people won't have come forward.

I can't find a public domain summary of all the data they collected (all commercialised).

If the data are based on volunteers, the bias in size estimates is more likely to be low than high.

I'm 5'11, 12 stone and a size 14/16. I think (know) im too big, but I am very regularly described as slim.

You are in the normal healthy weight range for your height. So you are slim, by medical definition. Like a catwalk model maybe not but people never were like catwalk models, women used to be a hell of a lot shorter for a start.

National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) (n=1453 adults), 2008-2012 measurements,

No separation of men & women, but usually women come out fatter than the men on these surveys. They reckon 71% of people have undesirable waist to height ratios. If that means avg waist needs to be

peanut butter that sounds like one of the few sensible comments on the thread to me as it is measurable.

Other than cutting all clothes for the hourglass figure made it tricky for those of different shapes in the past.

The whole 'size 16' concept is bollocks what will be a 16 in one place will be a 12 in another or a 20 elsewhere.

And it's interesting that someone then comments 34" waist isn't healthy well 2/3 of adults are actually overweight in the UK statistically so surely that is what would be expected?

So I do wonder if a lot of the 4-8 sizes in shops are being bought by teens. I'd say many are, especially in the cheaper shops. Once you're tall enough for women's clothes, a size 4 or 6 is usually smaller than a girls 14. At 5ft 5, I need a girls 14 for length myself, but then they are too big around the waist.