Height percentiles for a 2-year-old boy

Percentile table

Values from the WHO table, rounded to one decimal.

Source: WHO Child Growth Standards, height-for-age table. Every value on this page is checked automatically against the published WHO table before publishing, and the calculator uses WHO's LMS method. Updated October 2, 2026. Corrections and questions: ahozon@benbasha.com

How growth looks at this age

At 24 months the WHO tables switch from length measured lying down to height measured standing up. Standing height is on average about 0.7 cm less than lying length, so a small drop at this point is a change of method, not slower growth. The table on this page is the height table; the length table for 24 months has a median of 87.8 cm. The gap between the 3rd and 97th percentile is 11.5 cm at this age, compared with 7.1 cm at birth, because the curves fan out as children grow. For comparison, the median for girls of the same age is 85.7 cm. Relative to their size, the gap between the girls' and boys' medians is about the same as at birth.

From two years, children are measured standing, without shoes, heels against the wall or the measuring board.

What does the percentile mean?

A percentile compares a child with healthy children of the same age and sex from the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study. At the 40th percentile, 40 out of 100 children are shorter and 60 are taller. Anything between the 3rd and 97th percentile is in the normal range. What matters most is that a child keeps following a similar curve over time.

How to measure

From two years, height is measured standing, without shoes, with heels, back and head against the wall or board.

When to ask your pediatrician

Talk to your pediatrician or child health nurse if a measurement is below the 3rd or above the 97th percentile, or if your child's percentile changes a lot between visits, for example crossing two of the main percentile lines. A single measurement says little; the trend over time matters most.