About the CDC Growth Charts: United States

The growth charts consist of a series of percentile curves that illustrate the distribution of selected body measurements in U.S. children. Pediatric growth charts have been used by pediatricians, nurses, and parents to track the growth of infants, children, and adolescents in the United States since 1977. The 1977 growth charts were developed by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as a clinical tool for health professionals to determine if the growth of a child is adequate. The 1977 charts were also adopted by the World Health Organization for international use.

When the 1977 NCHS growth charts were first developed, NCHS recommended that they be revised periodically as necessary. With more recent and comprehensive national data now available, along with improved statistical procedures, the 1977 growth charts were revised and updated to make them a more valuable clinical tool for health professionals. The 2000 CDC growth charts represent the revised version of the 1977 NCHS growth charts. Most of the data used to construct these charts come from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which has periodically collected height and weight and other health information on the American population since the early 1960’s. In 2006, CDC recommended that the WHO growth standards be used for infants and children up to 24 months of age. In 2022, CDC released extended body mass index (BMI)-for-age growth charts for children with severe obesity.

Growth charts are not intended to be used as a sole diagnostic instrument. Instead, growth charts are tools that contribute to forming an overall clinical impression for the child being measured. The revised growth charts provide an improved tool for evaluating the growth of children in clinical and research settings.

Methods and Development

For more information about the methods and development of the CDC Growth Charts, please see the 2000 CDC Growth Charts for the United States: Methods and Development [PDF – 5 MB] report.

For more information about the methods and development of the WHO Growth Charts see Use of World Health Organization and CDC Growth Charts for Children Aged 0–59 Months in the United States

For more information about the methods and development of the CDC Extended BMI-for-age Growth Charts see Evaluation of Alternative Body Mass Index (BMI) Metrics to Monitor Weight Status in Children and Adolescents With Extremely High BMI Using CDC BMI-for-age Growth Charts