A century of trends in adult human height

Kenji Shibuya; NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

doi:10.7554/eLife.13410.001

A century of trends in adult human height

Kenji Shibuya
, NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

Imperial College London
Middlesex University
WHO World Health Organization
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Indian Council of Medical Research
University of California, Berkeley
WHO Collaborating Centre on NCD Surveillance and Epidemiology
Al-Quds University
Center for Diabetes and Endocrine Care
Birzeit University
Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social
University of Adelaide
Mahidol University
Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition
University of Amsterdam
Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center
Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology
King Saud University
KUWAIT INSTITUTE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia
Luxembourg Institute of Health
Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL)
Institut Pasteur de Lille
Faculty of Public Health and Policy
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Department of Sports Medicine
Madras Diabetes Research Foundation
National Institute of Public Health, Tunisia
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Ministry of Health Malaysia
University of Strasbourg
University of Yaoundé
Regional Authority of Public Health
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
King Abdulaziz University
Queen's University Belfast
King's College London

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

120 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3- 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8- 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.

Original language	English
Article number	e13410
Journal	eLife
Volume	5
Issue number	2016JULY
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13410.001
Publication status	Published - 26 Jul 2016

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@article{02a50279152849d0907523f959d61cce,

title = "A century of trends in adult human height",

abstract = "Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95\% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3- 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8- 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.",

author = "James Bentham and \{Di Cesare\}, Mariachiara and Stevens, \{Gretchen A.\} and Bin Zhou and Honor Bixby and Melanie Cowan and L{\'e}a Fortunato and Bennett, \{James E.\} and Goodarz Danaei and Kaveh Hajifathalian and Yuan Lu and Riley, \{Leanne M.\} and Avula Laxmaiah and Vasilis Kontis and Paciorek, \{Christopher J.\} and Majid Ezzati and Abdeen, \{Ziad A.\} and Hamid, \{Zargar Abdul\} and Abu-Rmeileh, \{Niveen M.\} and Benjamin Acosta-Cazares and Robert Adams and Wichai Aekplakorn and Aguilar-Salinas, \{Carlos A.\} and Charles Agyemang and Alireza Ahmadvand and Wolfgang Ahrens and Al-Hazzaa, \{Hazzaa M.\} and Al-Othman, \{Amani Rashed\} and Raddadi, \{Rajaa Al\} and Ali, \{Mohamed M.\} and Ala{\textquoteright}a Alkerwi and Mar Alvarez-Pedrerol and Eman Aly and Philippe Amouyel and Antoinette Amuzu and Andersen, \{Lars Bo\} and Anderssen, \{Sigmund A.\} and Anjana, \{Ranjit Mohan\} and Hajer Aounallah-Skhiri and Inger Ariansen and Tahir Aris and Nimmathota Arlappa and Dominique Arveiler and Assah, \{Felix K.\} and M{\'a}ria Avdicov{\'a} and Fereidoun Azizi and Babu, \{Bontha V.\} and Suhad Bahijri and Alun Evans and Gulliford, \{Martin C.\} and Kenji Shibuya and \{NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)\}",

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AU - Zhou, Bin

AU - Bixby, Honor

AU - Cowan, Melanie

AU - Fortunato, Léa

AU - Bennett, James E.

AU - Danaei, Goodarz

AU - Hajifathalian, Kaveh

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AU - Laxmaiah, Avula

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AU - Abdeen, Ziad A.

AU - Hamid, Zargar Abdul

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AU - Acosta-Cazares, Benjamin

AU - Adams, Robert

AU - Aekplakorn, Wichai

AU - Aguilar-Salinas, Carlos A.

AU - Agyemang, Charles

AU - Ahmadvand, Alireza

AU - Ahrens, Wolfgang

AU - Al-Hazzaa, Hazzaa M.

AU - Al-Othman, Amani Rashed

AU - Raddadi, Rajaa Al

AU - Ali, Mohamed M.

AU - Alkerwi, Ala’a

AU - Alvarez-Pedrerol, Mar

AU - Aly, Eman

AU - Amouyel, Philippe

AU - Amuzu, Antoinette

AU - Andersen, Lars Bo

AU - Anderssen, Sigmund A.

AU - Anjana, Ranjit Mohan

AU - Aounallah-Skhiri, Hajer

AU - Ariansen, Inger

AU - Aris, Tahir

AU - Arlappa, Nimmathota

AU - Arveiler, Dominique

AU - Assah, Felix K.

AU - Avdicová, Mária

AU - Azizi, Fereidoun

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AU - Bahijri, Suhad

AU - Evans, Alun

AU - Gulliford, Martin C.

AU - Shibuya, Kenji

AU - NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

PY - 2016/7/26

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N2 - Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3- 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8- 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.

AB - Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3- 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8- 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.

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JO - eLife

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A century of trends in adult human height

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