Did you know that the country with the tallest people
overall is the Netherlands? The males average 6 feet (183
cm) and the females average just over 5 feet, 7 inches (170
cm).
The average American male height is 5 feet, 9 inches (175
cm) while females average 5 feet, 4 inches (163 cm).
The Dutch may have the tallest country, but the tallest
people in the world reside in an Eastern European republic
called Montenegro which is part of the country of Serbia and
Montenegro. The former Yugoslavia. If Montenegro were it‘s
own country, it would have the tallest people in the world.
And the Dutch wouldn‘t even be close.
The average male in Montenegro is 6 feet, 3 inches (191
cm). The females average just under 5 feet, 11 inches (180
cm). The average female there is taller than the average
American male.
There are over 5.5 million American males that are 6 feet, 2
inches (188 cm) or taller.
1 in 7 American males is 6 feet (183 cm) or taller, about
15% of the population. 1 in 2 Dutch males is 6 feet or taller,
50% of the population.
There are over 1.5 million American females 5 feet, 9 inches
(175 cm) or taller.
The average Japanese male is 5 feet, 5 1/8 inches (165 cm)
tall.
Each generation seems to be getting taller. The main factor
in that is nutrition.
Since poor people hundreds of years ago and even a few
generations ago had poor unbalanced diets that lacked what
they needed to grow properly, they in effect stunted their
own growth. This brought down the average height for most
countries.
It is general knowledge that wealthier people are on
average a couple inches taller than poorer people based
solely on nutrition.
Generations ago, the differences in height between wealthy
and poor were even more pronounced since poor people
had such horrible diets. The gap in nutrition between
wealthy and poor has closed significantly in recent
generations.
The height gap has also closed but has not completely
caught up. Wealthy people are still taller and that can be
attributed to genetics. Over the years they built up a
genetic height advantage based mainly on their diets.
Why do some wealthy nations such as Japan and other
Asian nations still lag in their height? A lot of that has to do
with the types of food they traditionally eat. Although the
Japanese are still way shorter than Americans and
Europeans, they are slowly catching up and growing at a
faster rate.
The reason? Their diets are changing. The Japanese have
recently passed the Chinese and for the first time in history
they are now taller than the Chinese.
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