Wetall is the specialist for tall people, so it seems normal to look into the average size of the inhabitants of each country in the world, just to know where to feel normal on vacation.
Many studies are regularly conducted around the world to define the average population size of each country. This allows to draw a global overview of sizes by country. However, some population size studies are not conducted at a scale large enough to make them valid. We will therefore see different rankings: official and unofficial. We will also discover the evolution of average sizes over time by country. Finally, some videos and external links will be presented to deepen the subject.
Preamble
It is now completely accepted that the three most influential factors on
- food
- environment
- genes.
The figures that follow demonstrate that the evolution of a country’s standard of living has
Official ranking
According to the official classification of scientifically attested average sizes, the Netherlands is the country where the inhabitants are on average the tallest among men. They are followed by the Belgians, the Estonians and the Latvians. Among the women, we first find the Latvians, followed by the Dutch, Estonian, and Czech.
The most important study carried out on the subject is the one led by James Bentham. They analyzed 1472 studies from 200 countries.
Unofficial Rankings
Other studies of lesser scale have been conducted and showed different results. Often the sample size was not large enough to be representative of the population. Therefore the following ranking is an unofficial ranking.
| Country/Region | Average Height of Men | Average Height of Women | Year | |
| Dinaric Alps | 185.6 cm (6 ft 1 in) | 171.8 cm (5 ft 71⁄2in) | 2005 | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 183.9 cm (6 ft 0 in) | 171.8 cm (5 ft 7 in) | 2014 | |
| Montenegro | 183.4 cm (6 ft 0 in) | 169.4 cm (5 ft 61⁄2in) | 2017 | |
| Serbia | 182.0 cm (5 ft 111⁄2in) | 166.8 cm (5 ft 51⁄2in) | 2012 | |
| Iceland | 181 cm (5 ft 111⁄2in) | 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2007 | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 181.7 cm (5 ft 111⁄2in) | 169.4 cm (5 ft 61⁄2in) | 2017 | |
| Sweden | 181.5 cm (5 ft 111⁄2in) | 166.8 cm (5 ft 51⁄2in) | 2008 | |
| Lithuania | 181.3 cm (5 ft 111⁄2in) | 167.5 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2001 | |
| Netherlands | 180.8 cm (5 ft 11 in) | 167.5 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2013 | |
| Finland | 180.7 cm (5 ft 11 in) | 167.2 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2010–2011 | |
| Croatia | 180.4 cm (5 ft 11 in) | 166.49 cm (5 ft 51⁄2in) | 2006–2008 | |
| Denmark | 180.4 cm (5 ft 11 in) | N/A | 2012 | |
| Slovenia | 180.3 cm (5 ft 11 in) | 167.4 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2011 | |
| Czech Republic | 180.31 cm (5 ft 11 in) | 167.22 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2001 | |
| Austria | 179 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 166 cm (5 ft 51⁄2in) | 2006 | |
| Norway | 179.7 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 167.1 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2012 | |
| Norway | 179.7 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 167 cm (5 ft 51⁄2in) | 2008–2009 | |
| Kosovo | 179.52 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 165.72 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 2017 | |
| Slovakia | 179.4 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 165.6 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 2004 | |
| Estonia | 179.1 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | N/A | 2003 | |
| Germany | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 2009 | |
| Finland | 178.9 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 165.3 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 1994 | |
| Poland | 178.7 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 165.1 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 2010 | |
| Belgium | 178.6 cm (5 ft 101⁄2in) | 168.1 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2001 | |
| Lithuania (urban) | 178.4 cm (5 ft 10 in) | N/A | 2005 | |
| Switzerland | 178.2 cm (5 ft 10 in) | N/A | 2009 | |
| Greece | 177 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 2003 | |
| Ireland | 177 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 163 cm (5 ft 4 in) | 2007 | |
| Israel | 177 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 166 cm (5 ft 51⁄2in) | 2010 | |
| New Zealand | 177 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 164 cm (5 ft 41⁄2in) | 2007 | |
| Sweden | 177.9 cm (5 ft 10 in) | 164.6 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 1987–1994 | |
| Ireland | 177.5 cm (5 ft 10 in) | 163.5 cm (5 ft 41⁄2in) | 2001 | |
| Hungary | 177.3 cm (5 ft 10 in) | N/A | 2005 | |
| India | 177.3 cm (5 ft 10 in) | N/A | 2013 | |
| Italy | 177.2 cm (5 ft 10 in) | 167.8 cm (5 ft 6 in) | 2001 | |
| Russia | 177.2 cm (5 ft 10 in) | 164.1 cm (5 ft 41⁄2in) | 2004 | |
| United Kingdom | 177.0 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 162.0 cm (5 ft 4 in) | 2009 | |
| USA | 177.0 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 163.3 cm (5 ft 41⁄2in) | 2015–2016 | |
| Hungary | 176 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 164 cm (5 ft 41⁄2in) | 2000s | |
| Italy | 176.5 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 162.5 cm (5 ft 4 in) | 1999–2004 | |
| Lithuania | 176.2 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | N/A | 2005 | |
| Tonga | 176.1 cm (5 ft 91⁄2in) | 165.3 cm (5 ft 5 in) | 2001 | |
| Australia | 175.6 cm (5 ft 9 in) | 161.8 cm (5 ft 31⁄2in) | 2011–2012 | |
| France | 175.6 cm (5 ft 9 in) | 162.5 cm (5 ft 4 in) | 2003–2004 | |
| USA | 175.5 cm (5 ft 9 in) | 162.6 cm (5 ft 4 in) | 2015-2016 | |
| Germany | 175.4 cm (5 ft 9 in) | 162.8 cm (5 ft 4 in) | 2007 |
Population Height Evolution Over Time
The majority of countries have seen their quality of life improve in recent decades. This directly impacted the evolution of their average height.
The countries with the strongest growth are the Iranians among men with 16.5cm more since 1914, and South Korean women with 20.2cm more. The French, for their part, went from an average of 1m66 in 1914 to almost 1m80 in 2014.
The results in image:
Average Male Height Evolution
Height gain in cm
Image sources: eLife
Find all data related to the study onthe article published by James Bentham and his team.
Updated July 2021:
Discover interactive maps showing average height by country:
Resources
Videos
Tallest countries in the World
Why are the Dutch so tall?
Articles
- Imperial College of London study(in English)
- Figaro interactive infographic
- In which country are people the tallest? Figaro Health article
- Wikipedia page on anthropometry
- eLife study by James Bentham(in English)
- BBC article about countries and their residents’ heights(in English).
- Wikipedia article on average heights of residents by country(in English).