...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.)

Gosh, I find the women in Weymo's image to be all same shoulder & waist size (pretty much). Just height (& hair colour) changes.

I’m 5 foot 6, have a BMI of about 23.5, am fairly muscly (so presumably heavier than average for my “size”) but am still a size 14

I'm 5'6" and fit, very fit. I'm a size 6. I think frame size makes a huge difference.

Is it really a simple connection with affluence?I live in a 'naice' area and have to say not many people are over a size 14. nb I'm not posh I moved here for odd reasons
And come to think of it, where I used to live was quite a bit more 'urban' and yes people were bigger. I'm just 'normal' I'd say not skinny but slim.

could wear 12-14 tops but I don't like close fitting clothes. So people can skew the data without being larger

Thinking about this, if the average is based on what sizes are being bought; when pregnant I buy size 14-18 instead of expensive maternity clothes. I wonder how many other women do that, which would be bumping up the average.

You can eat well on a budget - but you have to be able to cook I guess.

I actually live in a suburb of NW London, definitely not Chelsea ...

I'm a size 16 and obese. I'd hate to think I'm the average size. I'm losing weight and if I lose another 2 stones I'll be overweight and probably a size 12/14. I think I'm pretty much the biggest woman wherever I go. I'm quite short, though, which makes a difference to these things.

In the UK most women are a proper non-vanity sized size 16. That may well be a size 12-14 in shops.

Unless you are 4'6" I doubt that's true.

You can doubt all you like. What you are happy with and what I am happy with aren't necessarily the same.

And yes, I'd love to hear from anyone who works as a buyer for a women's clothes store.

That would be really interesting!

I’m size 8 and could be slimmer but the menopause has wreaked havoc on me. I wore a vintage dress for a party a few months ago. A 1970’s Margot style. It was snug and a 10/12 (1970’s sizing!)

Of course primark is not a way of telling the average UK size
Primark isn't even a way of telling the average Primark size! I once left with a size 12 dress and size 6 jeans, both fit perfectly and I'm not particularly oddly shaped!

I live in a relatively affluent place, most of my aquaintances are size 8-12 and are age 25-50.
There are a few on the larger side but nit many that are thinner. This all changes post fifty when seeing a size 12 or under is a definite rarity unless the person is very short. Interestingly most of us are upwards of 5'5.
I'm 5'9, 10 stone three and generally a ten.
Contrary to the vanity size theory I have size 10s from 2001 when I was eighteen which still fit me. Topshop, for example don't seem to have changed their sizes at all in almost two decades.

Are you short OP? If you are maybe you're imagining what size 16 would look like on someone your height. I'm 5'10 and short people are always shocked when I say I'm a size 12 (they assume I'm an 8)

Depends which kind of average. Most common (mode) might be 12 or 14, but mean is always going to be higher because there's a limit to how much lower you can be (6 or 4 or whatever), but going upwards you can be a lot further above (size 30 or more).

@Gwenhwyfar why would you be a snarky bitch to someone who just said they were feeling bad about themselves. No need for that. Work on your compassion. Also, no one in this thread is really talking about the obesity problem, so also please work on the accuracy of your snark.

When I was a size 14-16 I believed I was a 12 and 14-16 clothes were meanly or wrongly cut. I really wasn't a size 12. I really was a 14-16 (probably 16). I remember buying a French connection dress and had to ask the assistant for a 14 and then a 16 and being amazed that they could have got the sizes so wrong for me, a size 12 .

Basically it's easy to think someone's "around a 12" depending on how they carry the weight but they are actually those kind of sizes (14/16 etc). Not 12.

Your view will be influenced heavily by where you live / work. Central London I’d be surprised. But overall I suppose it could end up being a 16.

It's like when people dismiss BMI (usually on the basis that elite sportspeople (of which they categorically are not grin) sometimes come in as 'overweight' due to muscle mass), and say they'd be 'emaciated' at a normal BMI.

I would be very thin at the bottom end of a normal BMI.

Im a size 14 and live in between an affluent 'posh' area and an industrial 'working class' area. When i go to the posh town i feel huge. When i go to the other town i feel skinny. I think obesity is more prevalent in the impoverished areas.

On the school run about 50% of people would be around a size 16 or more. So I suspect t it’s probably right from what I see.

Might sounds odd but I think the average BMI for women in the UK can give you more of an idea if the size indication story is currently true or not.

So you're ignoring people who have done actual studies and instead going by what you see?

Over the summer i went to the Mary Quant exhibition at the VA. I reckon i saw only a couple of women there who could have worn her clothes.... and a few who would have not even have managed a single thigh.

Where i live I’d say 16-18. Go out in chelsea where everyone has a diet of fags and cocain and you’d feel huge being a 12.