Where does your girth rank in the clinical data?
Almost every girth figure a man has ever heard came from another man's tape measure, and men round up. Ask the clinicians behind a review of up to 15,521 men, whose erect girth figure comes from 381 of them, and the average comes out a good way below the number that circulates online, which is why so many men with a perfectly ordinary measurement believe they're on the small side. Type in your erect girth and the calculator places it on the clinical curve. This calculator on Find The Norm uses Veale et al. (2015) BJU International clinician-measured data (up to 15,521 men) to rank your erect girth against the clinical population.
Querying clinical data…
Where does your length rank?
Length from the same Veale dataset, so the two percentiles read directly against each other.
What is the average penis girth?
The average erect girth is 11.66 cm (4.59 in) in Veale et al. (2015), published in BJU International, which pooled 17 published studies covering up to 15,521 men, 381 of them for erect girth, and only accepted measurements taken by a healthcare professional, so the figure has none of the inflation that comes with asking men to measure themselves. The 17 studies were combined into nomograms, the percentile charts clinicians use to place one patient against the population, and this calculator does the same job for you.
The mean erect girth is 11.66 cm (4.59 in), with a standard deviation of 1.10 cm.
About 68% of men fall within one standard deviation of that mean, so roughly 10.56 to 12.76 cm (4.16 to 5.02 in). The distribution is close to normal, which means men bunch tightly around the middle and the tails are thin. A 5-inch girth sits around the 83rd percentile. Drop to 4 inches and you're near the 9th.
How does girth compare to length in terms of variation?
Girth varies less than length, since the standard deviation for erect girth is 1.10 cm against 1.66 cm for length, so the middle 50% of men span about 1.48 cm in girth (25th to 75th percentile) where the same span in length is around 2.24 cm, and the population sits closer together on this dimension than on the other.
A centimetre counts for more here than it does in length. Because the spread is tighter, the same 1 cm difference moves you further up or down the percentile scale in girth, and the same goes for a 1 cm measuring error, so measure carefully before you trust the result. The 5th to 95th percentile range for girth is about 3.6 cm against about 5.5 cm for length. If you want both dimensions, the length percentile calculator uses the same source, so the two results can be read together.
Why the reference data had to be clinician-measured
Men measuring themselves get girth wrong more often than length, because a circumference needs a flexible tape and a steady hand, and most of the error runs one way. Bogaert and Hershberger (1999) worked from the sizes men measured and reported themselves in the Kinsey Institute's interviews, which is exactly the kind of figure a clinical review leaves out. Veale et al. threw out every self-reported figure and applied that filter across all 17 constituent studies, so the curve behind this calculator has none of that inflation baked in.
Erect girth percentile reference
| Percentile | Girth (cm) | Girth (in) |
|---|---|---|
| 5th | 9.85 cm | 3.88 in |
| 25th | 10.92 cm | 4.30 in |
| 50th (Median) | 11.66 cm | 4.59 in |
| 75th | 12.40 cm | 4.88 in |
| 95th | 13.47 cm | 5.30 in |
Percentiles are worked out from the reported mean (11.66 cm) and SD (1.10 cm) on the assumption of a normal distribution, so treat the far tails as close approximations rather than measured cut-offs.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The median erect girth in clinician-measured data is 4.59 inches (11.66 cm), and 4.5 inches lands around the 42nd percentile, a fraction under the middle. Men in the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile, measure between 4.30 and 4.88 inches, so 4.5 sits well inside the band where most men are. If it feels below average, that feeling is probably calibrated to self-reported figures rather than measured ones.
Five inches (12.7 cm) of erect girth puts you around the 83rd percentile, so about 83% of clinician-measured men are smaller. That is comfortably above average without being rare. The 95th percentile is around 5.30 inches (13.47 cm), so another three tenths of an inch is the difference between the top sixth and the top twentieth, which shows how tightly the population is packed.
It depends on who you ask, and the best-measured answer is modest. Prause et al. (2015) had 75 women choose among 33 3D-printed models and found they remembered circumference more accurately than length, and wanted a slightly larger size for a one-time partner, about 12.7 cm around, than for a long-term one, about 12.2 cm. Their picks sat only slightly above the clinical average.
Wrap a flexible tape, or a piece of string you then hold against a ruler, around the erect shaft at mid-shaft, which is where the Veale et al. studies measured. A rigid ruler held against the side reads low every time. Take the measurement twice and use the result only if the two agree. Flaccid figures don't compare with the erect data on this page, so don't enter one.
Four inches (10.16 cm) of erect girth sits around the 9th percentile in the Veale et al. data, so about 91% of clinician-measured men are larger. Below average, yes, though small is a relative word. The 5th percentile is around 3.88 inches, so 4 inches is still clear of the bottom 5% of the population, and the whole gap between you and the median is roughly six tenths of an inch.
Probably, which is why the clinical review threw self-reports out. Bogaert and Hershberger's 1999 study worked from the sizes men measured themselves for Kinsey Institute interviewers, and home measuring varies with where the tape sits and how hard it's pulled. Veale et al. excluded every self-reported figure, so this calculator compares you only with the clinician-measured mean of 11.66 cm.
A standard condom has a nominal width of about 52 mm measured flat, which fits erect circumferences of roughly 10 to 13 cm (3.9 to 5.1 inches) comfortably. That band covers about the 7th to 89th percentile of the Veale et al. data, so most men are in it. Snugger-fit condoms are made for circumferences under about 10 cm, and larger-fit options for above 13 cm, which is why the table above is worth a look before you buy.
Using the Veale et al. means, average erect girth (11.66 cm) is about 89% of average erect length (13.12 cm), so girth runs a little short of length on average. Girth's smaller standard deviation (1.10 cm against 1.66 cm) means men differ from each other less on this dimension, so the population is packed more tightly around the girth average than around the length average.
- Veale D, Miles S, Bramley S, Muir G, Hodsoll J. Am I normal? A systematic review and construction of nomograms for flaccid and erect penis length and circumference in up to 15,521 men. BJU International. 2015;115(6):978-986.
- Prause N, Park J, Leung S, Miller G. Women's preferences for penis size: a new research method using selection among 3D models. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(9):e0133079.
- Bogaert AF, Hershberger S. The relation between sexual orientation and penile size. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 1999;28(3):213-221.