Re: What percentage of the body is made up from it's various components?

This is not an easy question to answer, as the human body is so variable 
in its composition among normal individuals.  Anthropometric reports tend 
to be region- or race-specific, to aid scientists and doctors who may need 
a reference range (say, for a man from India or a woman of African descent 
living in America).  Estimates for proportions of skeleton, muscle, and 
fat exist, apparently from a Czech anthropologist named Jindrich Matiegka 
from 1921.  It's important to remember that these values vary *quite* 
widely among individuals, and that they may not apply to whole populations 
that are qualitiatively different (American's have much more fatty tissue 
on average than the rest of the world, for example).  They are also OLD.  
1921 is a long time ago in terms of nutrition, dietary habits, exercise 
habits, and longevity of the population.  I can't say that these numbers 
apply to any population on Earth today.

After considering bone, muscle, and fat, we can estimate the remaining 
proportion by subtracting the values for bone, muscle and fat from 100%.  
We can then presume that solid organs make up this remaining proportion of 
the weight.  The solid organ proportion will also account for tissue that 
falls outside of solid organs but is neither muscle nor bone, such as 
cartilage, the vascular system, and the connective tissue that stands 
between all of the separate elements listed above. I've seen this 
procedure referenced as the Drinkwater-Ross anthropometric fractionation 
of body mass, though it was the method Matiegka was using in 1921.  

I split norms into men and women.

In men, the skeleton reportedly makes up about 15% of body weight.   
Skeletal muscle makes up anywhere about 45% of body weight though this 
varies widely with body habitus.  This leaves 40% of weight remaining for 
the rest of the body.  A typical body fat percentage measurement 
("storage" body fat in particular, not that necessary for the structure 
and function of certain organs) is 12%. This leaves 28% remaining for the 
rest of the solid organs and connective tissue.

In women, the skeleton reportedly makes up about 12% of body weight.  
Skeletal muscle accounts for about 36% of body weight, though as I wrote 
above, this varies widely with body habitus.  This leaves 52% of weight 
remaining for the rest of the body.  A typical "storage" body fat 
percentage measurement for women is 15%. This leaves 37% remaining for the 
rest of the solid organs and connective tissue.  Now, outside of the 
uterus, women don't have a lot of other organs to account for the nearly 
10% difference from men in body composition.  But these are proportions, 
not absolute weights.  Because women have far less weight due to muscle 
and bone than men, the proportion of weight attributed to the solid organs 
is higher.

There is a whole discipline of medical science called anthropometry.  Any 
anthropometrist worth their salt would chop up these numbers in a hurry 
into different compartments, and possibly with population-specific data.  
I tried to keep my answer simple in order to answer your question 
specifically.  The reference at the bottom of this answer reviews the 
different ways that anthropometrists have divided up body composition in 
the past, and where the practice is going.  If you like biology, it's very 
interesting (it kept me reading far longer than it took to answer this 
question).  I encourage you to check it out.

I hope this helps.  

Tim Nicholls, MD
Berkeley, CA


RN Pierson, Jr., J Wang, JC Thornton. Body composition comes of age: a 
modest proposal for the next generation. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2000; 904: 1-11.