With the ratio of underweight women in their 20s falling below 20 percent for the first time in 20 years, health and fashion experts are looking at whether this means the desire to be thin has been replaced by the quest to be healthy.

According to the latest health ministry report on people's health and diet, women in their 20s whose body mass index (BMI) is below 18.5 — a figure considered underweight — accounted for 17.4 percent in 2014, the first time the figure was below the 20 percent mark since 1995.

The figure peaked at 29 percent in 2010, but has been gradually falling since then.