The human height average is a worldwide interest in public health information, since it may provide a proper indicator of growth and development of many communities. Average human height results may display variations by geographical region or country. In response to this, the main objective of this study is to analyze and investigate average data about human height by country from a health perspective. Therefore, understanding country height statistics data that are reported and analyzed by different countries of the world, and reactions in terms of trend and policies driven by these data is important.
The global average human height is important knowledge for monitoring the health status of any community at the national or international level. Since numerous studies statistically analyzed human height and changes in this parameter in different country height statistics data may be more reliable and useful. In a forthcoming report, we aim to present information on human height variability for different communities. Moreover, studies were conducted to identify the relative advantage of human height over competing health-status measures such as income, literacy, or life expectancy as a ‘liquid’ asset that people might translate to utility or resources as well as study missing girls or biological inequalities.
As a result, two research questions are addressed in this essay. First, we analyze the current average human height by country available in the literature. Secondly, we discuss the most recent human height by country results which are provided by national statistical systems. This overview is complemented by figures, and instrumental charts to depict country differences in actual average results for international development policymakers and practitioners.
To achieve the purpose of the study, two methods were chosen to use: the historical and the statistical one. The historical method was used to assess whether various factors directly affect the average human height. The statistical method was applied to compare the mean height between the chosen countries and evaluate their differences. Secondary data was used as the research method, and analyzed with the aid of statistical software – SPSS 12.0 for Windows. The main sources were the surveys from the selected countries which were found in different Internet databases. The method of gathering the data was based on convenience sampling; hence, the countries clearly outnumber the respondents.
Quick and simple statistics, such as the number of respondents, the mean, maximum, minimum, or the standard deviation of the results, should provide a good idea on this issue. After performing the descriptive statistics, the assumption to evaluate the differences between the means was created. The one-way ANOVA technique was used. Due to the use of secondary data, a serious limitation persists. The primary restriction was the lack of any possibility to adjust the way the results were obtained. Ex post facto research was carried out using well-structured and proven survey methods. The usual technique of ANOVA cannot be applied to the national average data; the averages of the surveys are. Hence, the collected data of the surveys were compared. After that, the average of each of the surveys was analyzed and discussed in the sub-chapters below. All these limitations should be taken into consideration.
Human height by country varies widely on a global scale, and that phenomenon is reflected in the data set of over two hundred countries. Schwartz, who’s Norwegian, points out that the Scandinavian lands are on average the tallest countries in the world. For example, Danish men are in first place at around 183.68 cm (6 feet 0.02 inches), whereas Danish women are in second place at 169.72 cm (5 feet 6.8 inches), only beaten by Latvian women. After comparing the data, Schwartz concluded that the top 10 tallest gold and silver positions hardly fluctuate by a centimeter from each other, whereas the bottom 10 positions constantly do. The countries with the tallest countries in the top 10 do change places by a few centimeters, though. Conversely, the shorter countries in the bottom ten places on that list only have a one centimeter difference.
Unsurprisingly, Asia possesses the shortest countries included in the study on average. East Asian as well as Southeast Asian countries dominate the bottom 32 positions, with Timor-Leste women and men, as well as the Indian population, ranking as the two shortest countries. Data for the two Koreas, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Papua New Guinea is also provided. Filipino men and Thais are in the lower half of the table, with Filipino men ranking close to 81st at 163.09 cm (5 feet 4.3 inches), and Thai men only being just over 162 cm (5 feet 3.8 inches) on average. Statistics from Latin America suggest that their global height averages are diverse, with Argentine men ranking on average 177 cm (5 feet 9.3 inches) and Paraguayan females ranging from between 153 and 154 cm (5 feet 0.2 inches to 5 feet 0.6 inches).
In terms of average human height, we have observed a trend that can be separated into three groups. At the upper end of the spectrum, the Netherlands, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the lead countries. Locating just below these nations, countries with high average heights of around 182 cm are found. These consist of some of the Scandinavian countries and a few Central African and European nations specializing in winter sports. Following this, a number of other European countries, several Latin American nations, a few counties where the predominant linguistic group is Dutch, and a few Slavic-majority countries where another sub-group also has a presence, the dominant one is the upper country height statistics measured.
The height comparison by country included in the top twenty are diverse. Two countries from the Scandinavian region make the list (Denmark and Norway), where height-boosting technologies are utilized. If the Netherlands, where such technology is not used at all, are excluded, Norway is placed top of the list. A few instances are observed across the world that are not often encountered. One significant point is that Icelandic peoples’ heights are typically hard to estimate based on data. It is thought that rates of female infertility fell, and their reproductive years become somewhat longer in the past decades. Hormonal treatments, and artificial inseminations were used, aiding dwarfism carriers to achieve desired global height averages. In addition to allowing women afflicted by this issue to set a course for marriage and reproduction, this treatment has also led to the likelihood of other possible problems being highlighted.
Using the same World Bank Open Data project, we can create a list of height comparisons by country of their inhabitants. Each of these countries is home to an average human height by country below 5’2″.
– Timor-Leste (5’1¼”)
– Guatemala (5’1¼”)
– The Marshall Islands (5’1″)
– Kiribati (5’1½”)
– Madagascar (5’1½”)
– The Solomon Islands (5’1¾”)
– The Comoros (5’1½”)
– The Republic of Guinea-Bissau (5’1½”)
As with the tallest countries, many of these countries, such as the Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and Madagascar, are islands or archipelagos. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. William Schreiber has told National Geographic that these island nations are home to many people with ethnicities and dietary practices that are unique to the area. Along with that are unique, region-specific health and economic challenges. Diagnosis and treatment has also improved in the last 100 years. But in the shortest countries people still struggle with poverty and poor nutrition. Just like genetics, the factors are very complicated and sometimes unpredictable. It’s also difficult to pinpoint a direct cause (or causes) that would affect an entire group of people over 100 years. However, it’s known that health and nutrition can cause development problems early in life that stick around for a person’s life. Social and economic institutions that impact access to quality healthcare can also impact an average human height by country measurements. In this way, recent economic and political instability can help explain why there are six countries on this list that weren’t there 100 years ago. However, the majority of the shorter countries were also present in the previous list of the 10 shortest countries, suggesting that while societal and economic stability does help with a population’s human height by country, clearly the average size of a country’s inhabitants doesn’t change all that much over time.
The differences between male and female height are more pronounced than height comparison by country as a whole. The average adult male and female in this report’s countries lie between about 160 and over 180 cm and between about 150 and about 170cm tall, respectively. When we look at how the human height by country of males versus females in these countries fare, we find that males differ from females most in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries and some as well in the west-central African countries and the Balkans. Heights of the men in the Americas, Europe, and east-central Africa—that is, overseas territories from the countries—are very parallel to the heights of women. Only a few African countries – including Gabon, Namibia and Equatorial Guinea – are identified from historical demographical estimates as having female human height by country that exceed those of males by over 1 cm.
For each of the 50 height comparison by country, we compared the average male and female heights from non-adjacent years in the two datasets. The two estimates were very close to each other in 10 countries: Albania, Ecuador, Iceland, Ireland, Jamaica, Malta, Singapore, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe. In the remaining 40 countries, estimates of a taller male height in HtE were on average 3.8 cm/month (median 3.8) higher compared to estimates of a taller male height in the other survey data. Estimates of a taller female global height averages in HtE were 2.6 cm/month (median 3.6) lower compared to estimates of a taller female height in the other survey data. Overall, estimates of a taller male height in HtE were higher than estimates of a taller male height in the other dataset in 88.6% of comparison between surveys.
According to data from 150 different countries, the human height by country for males is 174.7 cm tall. The tallest countries are the Netherlands, Belgium, and Europe; 75% of the top 20 countries are located in Europe. The shortest countries are North Korea and the Asian Continent. The global height averages vary by country, as well as differences exist between regions within a country. It has been identified that the physical environment, genes, culture, and socio-economic status can all have an impact on differences within a country. This section will discuss the global height averages of men by country.
In Slovenia, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United States, Finland, Poland, Germany, Hong Kong SAR and other countries, people have an average country height statistics of 178 cm. In the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Hungary, 20% of male people have an average male height of 178 cm. In the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, France, Slovakia, Canada, Portugal, Russia, Croatia and Dubai and some other countries, 20% of people have an average male height of 178 cm. In Singapore and other countries, 20% of people have an average male height of 176 cm. The differences in the global height averages of men by country are influenced by a number of factors. In addition to genetic inheritance, nutritional and health status in childhood, adolescence, and early years of young people are important factors affecting human growth and development. The living environment, working conditions, and socio-economic influences in adulthood are also important factors affecting country height statistics. A systematic report confirmed that this was the case.
Now that we have looked at male height across countries, perhaps there is a similar pattern in the average female height across countries. Remember, like in the case of the average male height, the focus is on adults. Figure 4 presents average female height by country. Comparing the two gender-specific continents, we can see very similar AOC and ASOC patterns. In SSA, South Asia and Southeast Asia, the human height by country females is lower than the global height averages of its males. And the average female height and males is higher in every single region of the world.
Looking at the regional continental average female height, European (50 or 52) and the Caribbean (58) females are the tallest. Even though the East is the tallest countries, the average female height in that region (49) is higher than that in East Europe (39). It seems that differences in female height by region are larger than differences in male height by region, with the difference between the East and East Europe being the largest with 10cm. Ecuadorian females, with an average female height of 54.5, are the tallest countries in Latin America; while Brazilian females at 51 are the shortest in Latin America, and a little over 4 short. The females in Mexico are about 6 shorter than the females in Mexico. As with the male data, differences in female height may reflect both genetic differences and basic childhood and adulthood nutrition and healthcare access and quality differences. And cultural factors also play a role in female height disparities.
The results of the variation of statures suggest some possible implications for exploratory research. The variation in statures suggests some evidence that some countries show greater differences in statures than other countries do within the same GDP block and for historical periods that could be seen as “comparable” (19th century). The Slovak Republic and, in particular, Japan and Kuwait stand out as countries with a much higher average stature compared with their estimated countries’ ranges in 1820. Iran and Great Britain, and in particular, Ukraine and Russia are countries that lie close to the lower bound of the general composition of the error bar.
This high diversity might have something to do with public health since good healthcare given to children in modern industrialized countries at the turn of the twentieth century makes Austria and Germany benefit in relative statures as well, according to Diehl et al. The calculated variation might also signal that during the Great Transition in the period 1500-1900, the long-run trend at the national level of mean height reflects not only “nutritional transitions” for historical periods and GDP/Head blocks as it does from 1870 onwards, but at best a regional level of variation. It is noteworthy that the Netherlands and the UK, based on modern estimates from the period 1850-1900, are close to the current observed levels, but Singapore instead clearly suffers a fall in stature. Although our well-being barometer only transfers relative height differences into relative income differences, in the absence of consistent historical GDP data, this level of relative diversity could reinforce our bottom-up optimal maximal level of within-country corporal punishment.
In this project, data from 185 nations were analyzed to understand if human country height statistics varied and the influence of certain factors on height. It was found that both male and female height varied significantly by country. Additionally, global height averages were significantly influenced by four of the eight possible controllable factors available: diet, public health, income inequality, and male/female ratio. Economic and sociopolitical factors, such as factors predicting cardiovascular disease rates, had a larger effect on predicted human height by country than medical resources, such as child immunization rates. This result may be influenced by the inequality present in many nations. Economically and sociopolitically advantaging one group to the exclusion or detriment of another can be just as bad as gross socioeconomic inequality for a nation physically, despite capable medical resources. Controllable factors were slightly more important in producing a predictive model for male height without the predictability loss of the full model.
Research on the impacts of nutrition distribution on height is still ongoing, so more research and data are needed to create a functioning predictive model devoid of all currently used health and wellness factors. Future research can also be done to use this dataset to understand what factors predict national height difference in countries where women are taller on average than men. This project analyzed data from a half decade ago, so it could be replicated using recent years of data to understand how height has changed over the last 5 years.
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