diff --git a/src/obikindex/src/lib.rs b/src/obikindex/src/lib.rs
index b5e881e..f5f20ae 100644
--- a/src/obikindex/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/obikindex/src/lib.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ mod index;
 mod merge;
 mod rebuild;
 mod reindex;
+mod stats;
 
 pub use error::{OKIError, OKIResult};
 pub use distance::{DistanceMetric, DistanceOutput};
@@ -14,3 +15,4 @@ pub use index::KmerIndex;
 pub use merge::MergeMode;
 pub use meta::{validate_label, GenomeInfo, IndexConfig, IndexMeta, META_FILENAME};
 pub use state::{IndexState, SENTINEL_COUNTED, SENTINEL_INDEXED, SENTINEL_SCATTERED};
+pub use stats::IndexBitsPerKmer;
diff --git a/src/obikindex/src/stats.rs b/src/obikindex/src/stats.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3dffc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/obikindex/src/stats.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+use std::fs;
+use std::path::Path;
+
+use obicompactvec::LayerMeta;
+use obilayeredmap::meta::PartitionMeta;
+use rayon::prelude::*;
+
+use crate::error::OKIResult;
+use crate::index::KmerIndex;
+
+/// Bits per kmer broken down by index component.
+pub struct IndexBitsPerKmer {
+    /// Total distinct k-mers across all partitions and layers.
+    pub n_kmers:          usize,
+    /// Number of genomes in the index.
+    pub n_genomes:        usize,
+    /// Bits used by the minimal perfect hash function (`mphf.bin`).
+    pub mphf:             f64,
+    /// Bits used by the evidence files (`evidence.bin`, `unitigs.bin*`,
+    /// `fingerprint.bin`).
+    pub evidence:         f64,
+    /// Bits used by the count/presence matrices (`counts/` and `presence/`),
+    /// normalised by k-mers only.
+    pub matrix:           f64,
+    /// `matrix` divided by the number of genomes — intrinsic encoding
+    /// efficiency, independent of index size.
+    pub matrix_per_genome: f64,
+    /// Sum of mphf + evidence + matrix.
+    pub total:            f64,
+}
+
+// ── File-size helpers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+fn file_bytes(path: &Path) -> u64 {
+    fs::metadata(path).map(|m| m.len()).unwrap_or(0)
+}
+
+fn dir_bytes(dir: &Path) -> u64 {
+    if !dir.exists() { return 0; }
+    fs::read_dir(dir)
+        .map(|entries| {
+            entries
+                .filter_map(|e| e.ok())
+                .filter_map(|e| e.metadata().ok())
+                .filter(|m| m.is_file())
+                .map(|m| m.len())
+                .sum()
+        })
+        .unwrap_or(0)
+}
+
+// ── Per-layer accounting ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+struct LayerBytes {
+    n_kmers:  usize,
+    mphf:     u64,
+    evidence: u64,
+    matrix:   u64,
+}
+
+fn layer_bytes(layer_dir: &Path) -> LayerBytes {
+    let n_kmers = LayerMeta::load(layer_dir).map(|m| m.n).unwrap_or(0);
+
+    let mphf = file_bytes(&layer_dir.join("mphf.bin"));
+
+    let evidence = file_bytes(&layer_dir.join("unitigs.bin"))
+        + file_bytes(&layer_dir.join("unitigs.bin.idx"))
+        + file_bytes(&layer_dir.join("evidence.bin"))
+        + file_bytes(&layer_dir.join("fingerprint.bin"));
+
+    let matrix = dir_bytes(&layer_dir.join("counts"))
+        + dir_bytes(&layer_dir.join("presence"));
+
+    LayerBytes { n_kmers, mphf, evidence, matrix }
+}
+
+// ── KmerIndex::bits_per_kmer ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+impl KmerIndex {
+    /// Compute bits-per-kmer statistics for the built index.
+    ///
+    /// File sizes are read directly from disk; kmer counts come from
+    /// `layer_meta.json` (no need to scan the MPHF or unitig files).
+    /// Computation is parallelised across partitions.
+    pub fn bits_per_kmer(&self) -> OKIResult<IndexBitsPerKmer> {
+        let n          = self.n_partitions();
+        let n_genomes  = self.meta().genomes.len().max(1);
+
+        let (n_kmers, mphf_b, evidence_b, matrix_b) = (0..n)
+            .into_par_iter()
+            .map(|i| {
+                let index_dir = self.partition.part_dir(i).join("index");
+                if !index_dir.exists() { return (0usize, 0u64, 0u64, 0u64); }
+
+                let n_layers = PartitionMeta::load(&index_dir)
+                    .map(|m| m.n_layers)
+                    .unwrap_or(0);
+
+                (0..n_layers).fold((0usize, 0u64, 0u64, 0u64), |acc, l| {
+                    let lb = layer_bytes(&index_dir.join(format!("layer_{l}")));
+                    (acc.0 + lb.n_kmers, acc.1 + lb.mphf, acc.2 + lb.evidence, acc.3 + lb.matrix)
+                })
+            })
+            .reduce(|| (0, 0, 0, 0), |a, b| (a.0 + b.0, a.1 + b.1, a.2 + b.2, a.3 + b.3));
+
+        if n_kmers == 0 {
+            return Ok(IndexBitsPerKmer {
+                n_kmers: 0, n_genomes,
+                mphf: 0.0, evidence: 0.0,
+                matrix: 0.0, matrix_per_genome: 0.0, total: 0.0,
+            });
+        }
+
+        let bpk    = |bytes: u64| bytes as f64 * 8.0 / n_kmers as f64;
+        let matrix = bpk(matrix_b);
+
+        Ok(IndexBitsPerKmer {
+            n_kmers,
+            n_genomes,
+            mphf:              bpk(mphf_b),
+            evidence:          bpk(evidence_b),
+            matrix,
+            matrix_per_genome: matrix / n_genomes as f64,
+            total:             bpk(mphf_b + evidence_b + matrix_b),
+        })
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/obikmer/src/cmd/utils.rs b/src/obikmer/src/cmd/utils.rs
index c5fa3e7..5aa564a 100644
--- a/src/obikmer/src/cmd/utils.rs
+++ b/src/obikmer/src/cmd/utils.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use clap::Args;
-use obikindex::{validate_label, KmerIndex};
+use obikindex::{validate_label, IndexBitsPerKmer, KmerIndex};
 use tracing::info;
 
 #[derive(Args)]
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ pub struct UtilsArgs {
     /// Add missing layer_meta.json files to each layer (required after upgrading from old indexes)
     #[arg(long)]
     pub upgrade_index: bool,
+
+    /// Print bits-per-kmer statistics (MPHF, evidence, matrix, total)
+    #[arg(long)]
+    pub bits_per_kmer: bool,
 }
 
 pub fn run(args: UtilsArgs) {
@@ -31,12 +35,35 @@ pub fn run(args: UtilsArgs) {
         run_upgrade_index(&args.index);
     }
 
+    if args.bits_per_kmer {
+        any = true;
+        run_bits_per_kmer(&args.index);
+    }
+
     if !any {
-        eprintln!("utils: no operation specified. Available options: --new-label NEW=OLD, --upgrade-index");
+        eprintln!("utils: no operation specified. Available options: --new-label NEW=OLD, --upgrade-index, --bits-per-kmer");
         std::process::exit(1);
     }
 }
 
+fn run_bits_per_kmer(index_path: &PathBuf) {
+    let idx = KmerIndex::open(index_path).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+        eprintln!("error opening index: {e}");
+        std::process::exit(1);
+    });
+    let stats: IndexBitsPerKmer = idx.bits_per_kmer().unwrap_or_else(|e| {
+        eprintln!("error computing bits/kmer: {e}");
+        std::process::exit(1);
+    });
+    println!("k-mers    : {}", stats.n_kmers);
+    println!("genomes   : {}", stats.n_genomes);
+    println!("mphf      : {:6.2} bits/kmer", stats.mphf);
+    println!("evidence  : {:6.2} bits/kmer", stats.evidence);
+    println!("matrix    : {:6.2} bits/kmer  ({:.2} bits/kmer/genome)",
+             stats.matrix, stats.matrix_per_genome);
+    println!("total     : {:6.2} bits/kmer", stats.total);
+}
+
 fn run_upgrade_index(index_path: &PathBuf) {
     let idx = KmerIndex::open(index_path).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
         eprintln!("error opening index: {e}");