Bivariate Distributions for Height and Weight of Men and Women in the United States

Abstract

For the U.S. population, we fit bivariate distributions to estimated numbers of men and women aged 18-74 years in cells representing 1 in. intervals in height and 10 lb intervals in weight. For each sex separately, the marginal histogram of height is well fit by a normal distribution. For men and women, respectively, the marginal histogram of weight is well fit and satisfactorily fit by a lognormal distribution. For men, the bivariate histogram is satisfactorily fit by a normal distribution between the height and the natural logarithm of weight. For women, the bivariate histogram is satisfactorily fit by two superposed normal distributions between the height and the natural logarithm of weight. The resulting distributions are suitable for use in public health risk assessments.