Growth charts
Reference curves for height and age
These charts show WHO 2007 height-for-age percentiles. They describe a reference population. A chart by itself does not diagnose growth.
How to read the chart
Age runs along the bottom, from the start of the published tables through 19 years. Height runs up the side, in centimeters. Each curve is a percentile of the reference: 3rd, 15th, 50th, 85th, and 97th. How to read a child growth chart explains those axes and what one plotted point means.
The 50th percentile is the median height at that age. The other curves show how widely the reference is spread. They are not lines for “too short” or “too tall,” and they are not diagnostic thresholds. The height percentile article explains that comparison, and why it is not a grade.
Recorded measurements
A recorded measurement is a height someone actually measured on a date. This page does not plot a personal measurement. In the app, basic height tracking keeps those records, and a series of them is a trajectory. One point on a chart is only one moment. Growth velocity is the change between two recorded heights, and how it works explains why another measurement can add context.
Interpreting a growth chart
A child growth chart, or height chart, is a height-for-age picture of a reference. The lines are growth curves, also called reference curves. Each curve is one growth-chart percentile across age. Interpreting growth charts starts with those axes: find the age, then the height, then see which curves are nearby.
Plotting a height means placing one recorded measurement at its age. This page draws the reference only. It does not plot a personal series. In a record you keep, later points show whether height stays near the same part of the chart. That pattern is more informative than one mark. What a percentile means explains the comparison. The growth velocity calculator describes the change between two dated heights, and the growth velocity article explains why the time between them matters.
Growth charts have limits. They describe a reference population. They do not diagnose, they do not set a required pace, and they do not predict an exact adult height. A point between curves is still a comparison.
How the curves are calculated
Curve heights are calculated from the published LMS tables. Because L is 1, the height on a curve is median × (1 + S × z), using the z-score for that percentile. The method is explained in growth science. To compare one height, use the height calculator.