Orthopaedic surgeons face great difficulty in placement of screws during uncemented total hip arthroplasty and fixation of acetabular fractures. The screws need to be placed with great care to avoid injury to the nearby neurovascular structures. Knowledge of the important structures and a preoperative determination of the length of the screw would help the orthopaedic surgeons to achieve adequate fixation and hence better results. Literature on the acetabular profile including the diameter and thickness of South Indian acetabuli are scarce. The objective of this study is to find the average acetabular diameter, thickness and to find the correlation between the two in South Indian population. 108 pelvic bones without any pathology were studied. The acetabulum was divided into four quadrants based on standard guidelines. The diameter of the acetabuli were measured along a single plane and the thickness was measured in all the four quadrants using a vernier caliper. The results were analyzed statistically. The mean diameter was found to be 48.74 ± 3.62 mm. The average thickness of the posterior quadrants was calculated to be about 70% of the acetabular diameter (about 33 mm). Thickness of three quadrants except the antero-inferior quadrant showed a linear correlation with the diameter. The posterior quadrants were found to be the most safe zone for placement of screws and the anteroinferior quadrant the least safe. © 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.