A new study found the countries with the tallest and shortest people.
A new study came out this week that found the average height of a male and female in every country. And sure, that’s quality data. But all I wanted to know is: How do I stack up?
I’m not tall. I just measured myself and came about an eighth of an inch under 5’8″. And that makes me below average in the U.S., where, I see from this study, the average male is 5’9.74″. I very well may be one standard deviation below the mean. Does that mean I rank as “short” as opposed to “not tall”? It’s close.
But here’s the good thing about numbers. If you mess with them enough, you can figure out ways to make them say anything you want. So that’s what I did. Because when I ran the numbers and found the average height of men worldwide — well let’s just say I squeaked into the “tall” group. If I could make a South Park analogy, it’d be this:
Anyway, the numbers are definitely interesting to dig into. So here are the 11 countries with the tallest and shortest men, 11 countries with the tallest and shortest women, and then a few more calculations to give you a look at how you stack up globally.
Tallest men in the world
- The Netherlands, 5’11.86″
- Belgium, 5’11.53″
- Estonia, 5’11.49″
- Latvia, 5’11.42″
- Denmark, 5’11.41″
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5’11.21″
- Croatia, 5’11.17″
- Serbia, 5’11.09″
- Iceland, 5’11.06″
- Czech Republic, 5’10.91″
- Germany, 5’10.82″
- United States, 5’9.74″
Tallest women in the world
- Latvia, 5’6.85″
- The Netherlands, 5’6.42″
- Estonia, 5’6.41″
- Czech Republic, 5’6.32″
- Serbia, 5’6.02″
- Slovakia, 5’5.93″
- Denmark, 5’5.83″
- Lithuania, 5’5.6″
- Belarus, 5’5.49
- Ukraine, 5’5.48″
- Slovenia, 5’5.37″
- United States, 5’4.39″
Shortest men in the world
- East Timor, 5’2.91″
- Yemen, 5’2.95″
- Laos, 5’3.2″
- Madagascar, 5’3.6″
- Malawi, 5’3.87″
- Nepal, 5’3.9″
- Rwanda, 5’4.05″
- Marshall Islands, 5’4.1″
- Philippines, 5’4.26″
- Mauritania, 5’4.28″
- Cambodia, 5’4.3″
Shortest women in the world
- Guatemala, 4’10.81″
- Philippines, 4’10.9″
- Bangladesh, 4’11.37″
- Nepal, 4’11.39″
- East Timor, 4’11.51″
- Madagascar, 4’11.52″
- Laos, 4’11.55″
- Marshall Islands, 4’11.57″
- India, 5’0.07″
- Indonesia, 5’0.16″
- Cambodia, 5’0.2″
Other
- Biggest difference between male and female height: Macedonia (7.3″ difference)
- Smallest difference between male and female height: Gambia (1.8″ difference)
- Height of average man, worldwide: 5’7.43″
- Height of average woman, worldwide: 5’2.8″
- Height of average person, worldwide: 5’5.1″