How Much Skin does the Average Person Have?

The average person has between about 6 and 10 pounds (between about 2.7 and 4.5 kilograms) of skin. That is roughly the equivalent of the average chihuahua. It is the largest organ in the body, and weighs more than 3 times as much as the liver, the next largest organ.

More facts about skin:

• By the age of 70, the average person will have shed around 105 pounds (about 47 kg) of skin over the course of his or her lifetime. To put it in perspective, that is the approximate weight of an average 11-year-old child.


• Humans go through almost 1,000 "skins" in a lifetime. The skin is completely regenerated every 27 days. In fact, around 70% of household dust is composed of skin cells that are shed as the skin renews itself.


• The human skin contains about 45 miles of nerves, and around 200 sweat glands in every square inch (2.5 square cm) of skin.