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Europe: A Head Above the Rest

By Natalie on Aug 20, 2007
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men and women for ten European countries and the United States. While in 1850, Americans stood about 6.4 cm (2.5 in) taller than most populations, they reached a height plateau after World War II and stopped growing much taller thereafter. This phenomenon gave most countries a chance to catch up by the 1960s and even surpass the American height standard. Norway and the Netherlands are the world's tallest nations on average men are about 3.5 cm taller (or 1.5 in) than Americans; women are about 4 cm (1.6 in) taller.

In the fields of health, economy, and anthropometrics height signifies the measure of a population's general well being. Typically taller people are wealthier, healthier, and live longer; not because they're tall, but because taller people tend to have a balanced diet, prenatal care, and a healthy childhood. The healthy life expectancy in Norway is 70 years for men, 74 for women. In the United States it is 67 years for men, 71 for women. (Height might even improve your chances of being elected president -- traditionally the winning candidate is taller.) John Komlos, an economic historian at the University of Munich, attributes America's stunted growth to poor diet, health care, and perhaps even misplaced ideology: "In some ways it gets to the fundamentals of the American society, namely what is the ideology of the American society and what are the shortcomings of that ideology. I would argue that to take good care of its children is not part of that ideology." The height gap doesn't measure Americans capacity to love their children, but average height is an indicator of a population's most vulnerable members' welfare. Note: The European data shown in this graph is from country surveys conducted between 1989 and 1994, which can be found in the report Persistent variations in average height between countries and between socio-economic overview of 10 European countries. The United States data is from the 1998-1994 National Nutrition and Health Examination Survey.]]>

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Sources: Persistent variations in average height between countries and socioeconomic groups (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0...)

America once was the tallest country in the world. People may have once thought of most Americans as resembling John Wayne - a gun toting, horse riding cowboy, who was twice as tall as everyone else in the saloon. These days, Americans aren't the tall, towering nation they once were. This graph shows the average heights of men and women for ten European countries and the United States. While in 1850, Americans stood about 6.4 cm (2.5 in) taller than most populations, they reached a height plateau after World War II and stopped growing much taller thereafter. This phenomenon gave most countries a chance to catch up by the 1960s and even surpass the American height standard. Norway and the Netherlands are the world's tallest nations on average men are about 3.5 cm taller (or 1.5 in) than Americans; women are about 4 cm (1.6 in) taller.

In the fields of health, economy, and anthropometrics height signifies the measure of a population's general well being. Typically taller people are wealthier, healthier, and live longer; not because they're tall, but because taller people tend to have a balanced diet, prenatal care, and a healthy childhood. The healthy life expectancy in Norway is 70 years for men, 74 for women. In the United States it is 67 years for men, 71 for women. (Height might even improve your chances of being elected president -- traditionally the winning candidate is taller.) John Komlos, an economic historian at the University of Munich, attributes America's stunted growth to poor diet, health care, and perhaps even misplaced ideology: "In some ways it gets to the fundamentals of the American society, namely what is the ideology of the American society and what are the shortcomings of that ideology. I would argue that to take good care of its children is not part of that ideology." The height gap doesn't measure Americans capacity to love their children, but average height is an indicator of a population's most vulnerable members' welfare. Note: The European data shown in this graph is from country surveys conducted between 1989 and 1994, which can be found in the report Persistent variations in average height between countries and between socio-economic overview of 10 European countries. The United States data is from the 1998-1994 National Nutrition and Health Examination Survey. —Natalie

Comments (4)

Jasyreta says

The United States is not a European country. It is a melting pot whose racial composition continually changes. In particular the percentage of Hispanics, especially Mexican-Americans has increased greatly since WWII. Hispanics tend to be shorter than Northern Europeans. The fact that we have Hispanics in this country does not make the country less healthy.

If a study were to show that Americans of a given nation of origin were shorter than those in the given country, the survey would be worth studying. This study shows nothing and is borderline racist.

posted about 1 year ago

Eduardo says

Although it may make some sense, I do not necessarily agree with the height-health relationship. At least, there are remarkable exceptions. According to this graph, the Spanish women are the shortest of all countries. However, their life expectancy is the European Union's highest at 83.8 years. Overall, the Spanish are the third country that live longer of the EU, after Italy (the second shortest population!) and Sweden (and Japan, with really short people is one of the world's longet living countries!!)

posted about 1 year ago

Natalie

Natalie says

@ Jaysreta - you make a great point about America being composed of different races. The data in this graph doesn't reflect the heights of only native non-immigrant Americans. But in a Q&A with Professor John Komlos in the New Yorker, he points out that even when immigrants are factored out of the equation the trend is still the same. He says, "Immigration may seem like the answer [to why Americans are shorter], but it’s been largely discounted by anthropometric historians. Even after they factor immigrants out of their statistics, they still find that Americans are smaller than Europeans." http://www.newyorker.com/ar...

posted about 1 year ago

hankjmatt

hankjmatt says

In particular the percentage of Hispanics, especially Mexican-Americans has increased greatly since WWII. Hispanics tend to be shorter than Northern Europeans.
http://www.online-flash-gam...

posted 3 months ago