UK Size 16 in EU — Women's UK 16 = EU 44

Why EU sizing runs differently by country

"EU size 44" is a useful shorthand, but the EU size system isn't perfectly uniform in practice — French and Italian labelling conventions differ slightly even within the same nominal EU scale, and German brands (which often use their own separate numbering, closer to the UK bust measurement in cm) can label the same garment differently again. The safest approach when shopping a specific country's site is to treat the EU number as an approximation and check the brand's own measurement chart, especially for French and Italian labels where the gap from the "standard" EU scale tends to be largest.

UK 16 across Europe

A UK 16 generally sits in the EU 44 range, but if you're shopping directly from a French retailer, sizing can run a size or so smaller in practice than the EU-standard conversion suggests — French sizing has historically skewed toward smaller labelled numbers for the same measurements. Italian sizing tends to track closer to the standard EU conversion. When in doubt, use the bust/waist/hip measurements above rather than the size label alone.