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9Average Height by Country (Males >20 years)
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Stuart Leung
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Cambodia China Denmark Finland Hanno Mottola Iceland India Indonesia Jón Stefánsson Korea Netherlands Nigeria Norway Petur Gudmundsson Philippines Sweden
If basketball popularity coincided with the average height of the country’s population, then Scandinavia should have many more professional basketball players.
At least according to some data that was compiled by one of our forum members, tpraseri (see Average Height by Country thread).
Tpraseri compiled data from across the internet, listed out the average heights of 82 countries around the world. You can see the full list at the bottom of this post.
Netherlands the tallest country
At an average height of 5-foot-11 (181,0 cm), the Netherlands has the tallest average height amongst males twenty years old and older.
Holland was followed by #2 Iceland (5-10.8, 179,8), and then the three Scandinavian countries Norway (5-10.7, 179,7), Sweden (5-10.6, 179,3), and Denmark (5-10.4, 178,8) rounded out the top five.
And who have these countries have produced?
The Netherlands has been decently successful with Rik Smits, Dan Gadzuric, Francisco Elson, Swen Nater, Geert Hammink, Henk Norel, and Serge Zwikker.
Sweden has the recently-drafted Jonas Jerebko, Iceland sent Petur Gudmundsson to the NBA in the 1980s and Jón Stefánsson, and Lars Hansen of Denmark.
And who would have assumed that #43 South Korea (5-7.3, 171,0) would, on average, be taller than #48 Portugal (5-7.1, 170,5), #56 Brazil (5-6.7, 169,5), #69 Mongolia (5-5.5, 166,4), and #75 Nigeria (5-5, 165,0),?
Asia has the shortest countries
Asia owned the six shortest countries on the list, mostly Southeast Asian countries.
The only country shorter than #81 Indonesia (161.5, 5’3.6) and the #80 Philippines (162.0, 5’3.8) was #82 Cambodia clocked in as the country with the shortest average height for males at just 160,3 (5’3.1″).
To see the full chart, see below:
| Countries | Height (cm) | Height (in) | Population |
| Netherlands | 181,0 | 5’11.3″ | 16,318,199 |
| Iceland | 179,8 | 5’10.8″ | 319,355 |
| Norway | 179,7 | 5’10.7″ | 4,737,171 |
| Sweden | 179,3 | 5’10.6″ | 8,986,400 |
| Denmark | 178,8 | 5’10.4″ | 5,413,392 |
| Finland | 178,4 | 5’10.2″ | 5,214,512 |
| Czech Republic | 178,3 | 5’10.2″ | 10,246,178 |
| Slovenia | 178,1 | 5’10.1″ | 2,007,711 |
| Luxembourg | 178,0 | 5’10.1″ | 486,006 |
| Croatia | 177,6 | 5’9.9″ | 4,496,869 |
| Germany | 177,4 | 5’9.8″ | 82,424,609 |
| Estonia | 177,1 | 5’9.7″ | 1,307,605 |
| Austria | 177,0 | 5’9.7″ | 8,174,762 |
| Belgium | 176,6 | 5’9.5″ | 10,348,276 |
| Serbia | 176,5 | 5’9.5″ | 10,159,046 |
| Switzerland | 176,5 | 5’9.5″ | 7,450,867 |
| United States | 176,4 | 5’9.4″ | 293,027,571 |
| Australia | 176,3 | 5’9.4″ | 19,913,144 |
| Poland | 176,0 | 5’9.3″ | 38,626,349 |
| Greece | 175,7 | 5’9.2″ | 10,647,529 |
| New Zealand | 175,5 | 5’9.1″ | 3,993,817 |
| United Kingdom | 175,4 | 5’9.1″ | 60,270,708 |
| Hungary | 175,3 | 5’9″ | 10,106,017 |
| Ukraine | 175,0 | 5’8.9″ | 47,732,079 |
| Ireland | 175,0 | 5’8.9″ | 3,969,558 |
| Russia | 175,0 | 5’8.9″ | 143,782,338 |
| Israel | 175,0 | 5’8.9″ | 7,112,359 |
| Lithuania | 175,0 | 5’8.9″ | 3,565,205 |
| Canada | 174,3 | 5’8.6″ | 32,507,874 |
| Lebanon | 174,2 | 5’8.6″ | 3,777,218 |
| Turkey | 174,1 | 5’8.5″ | 68,893,918 |
| France | 174,1 | 5’8.5″ | 60,424,213 |
| Uzbekistan | 173,4 | 5’8.3″ | 26,410,416 |
| Italy | 173,2 | 5’8.2″ | 58,057,477 |
| Senegal | 173,0 | 5’8.1″ | 10,852,147 |
| Jamaica | 172,8 | 5’8″ | 2,804,332 |
| Mali | 172,5 | 5’7.9″ | 12,324,029 |
| Spain | 172,0 | 5’7.7″ | 40,280,780 |
| Romania | 172,0 | 5’7.7″ | 22,355,551 |
| Azerbaijan | 172,0 | 5’7.7″ | 8,177,717 |
| Uruguay | 171,8 | 5’7.6″ | 3,399,237 |
| Argentina | 171,3 | 5’7.4″ | 39,144,753 |
| South Korea | 171,0 | 5’7.3″ | 48,598,175 |
| Syria | 171,0 | 5’7.3″ | 18,016,874 |
| Morocco | 170,7 | 5’7.2″ | 32,209,101 |
| Iran | 170,6 | 5’7.2″ | 67,503,205 |
| Portugal | 170,5 | 5’7.1″ | 10,524,145 |
| Côte d’Ivoire | 170,4 | 5’7.1″ | 18,373,060 |
| Egypt | 170,3 | 5’7″ | 76,117,421 |
| Tunisia | 170,3 | 5’7″ | 9,974,722 |
| Algeria | 170,2 | 5’7″ | 32,129,324 |
| South Africa | 170,0 | 5’6.9″ | 42,718,530 |
| Cameroon | 170,0 | 5’6.9″ | 16,063,678 |
| Gambia | 170,0 | 5’6.9″ | 1,735,464 |
| Ghana | 169,8 | 5’6.9″ | 23,382,848 |
| Brazil | 169,5 | 5’6.7″ | 184,101,109 |
| Colombia | 169,5 | 5’6.7″ | 42,310,775 |
| Taiwan | 169,3 | 5’6.7″ | 22,920,946 |
| Chile | 169,2 | 5’6.6″ | 15,823,957 |
| Venezuela | 169,0 | 5’6.5″ | 23,542,649 |
| Paraguay | 169,0 | 5’6.5″ | 6,191,368 |
| Japan | 168,6 | 5’6.4″ | 127,333,002 |
| Hong Kong | 168,5 | 5’6.3″ | 7,210,505 |
| China | 168,3 | 5’6.3″ | 1,298,847,624 |
| Mexico | 167,5 | 5’5.9″ | 104,959,594 |
| Pakistan | 167,0 | 5’5.7″ | 159,196,336 |
| Singapore | 166,6 | 5’5.6″ | 4,353,893 |
| Thailand | 166,4 | 5’5.5″ | 64,865,523 |
| Mongolia | 166,4 | 5’5.5″ | 2,751,314 |
| Malaysia | 166,0 | 5’5.4″ | 23,522,482 |
| Sri Lanka | 166,0 | 5’5.4″ | 20,064,776 |
| Malawi | 166,0 | 5’5.4″ | 13,931,831 |
| Bahrain | 165,6 | 5’5.2″ | 718,306 |
| Iraq | 165,4 | 5’5.1″ | 25,374,691 |
| Nigeria | 165,0 | 5’5″ | 138,283,240 |
| Peru | 164,3 | 5’4.7″ | 27,544,305 |
| North Korea | 163,8 | 5’4.5″ | 22,697,553 |
| India | 162,3 | 5’3.9″ | 1,065,070,607 |
| Vietnam | 162,1 | 5’3.8″ | 82,689,518 |
| Philippines | 162,0 | 5’3.8″ | 86,241,697 |
| Indonesia | 161,5 | 5’3.6″ | 238,452,952 |
| Cambodia | 160,3 | 5’3.1″ | 13,363,421 |
* For the references used to compile this data, go here.
8:35 am
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11:04 am
Thank you for writing valuable information regarding the topic. I am an admirer of your website. Keep up the good job.
12:40 pm
northern chinese 18-25 guys are 6’1 (185cm) tall in average. im 6’4 and im not towering over people in my high school
6:01 pm
Thats true. I have a friend whos around 6 ft tall, and he has some chinese lineage. He said something about an ethnic group called Hoka or something. Not the tallest on earth, but quite tall. Im not sure whats up w/ my school. I live in a mostly dutch town in Iowa, and i stand a head and shoulders taller than most at 6’5.
12:01 am
data for Mongolian is for 14 year old highschool students. For 18-24 average is 179cm (2007) census.
3:08 am
Canada = 5 ft 9 and a half for male between 25-50
4:24 pm
hmmm very intersting. White folks are the tallest… then blacks and the reason why south korea is tall for an Asian country(800 pound gorilla in the room). Is because their well feed for the past 60 years. Unlike there fesis throwing neighbors to the South.
3:11 pm
Acces to food, it’s quality an the quality of life play a major factor in human hight.
I’m Romanian. Look what happened the past 2 generations with improvement in life quality.
Granfathers: 167cm, 168cm Granmothers: 151cm, 160cm Father: 172cm Mother: 160cm
Me (23 y old): 180cm My cousins (22 – 28 y old): 1 shortest 175cm, all other 5: 180 – 186cm.
New generations are much taller. Me at 180cm i’m very average.
4:20 am
Interesting. I’m Mongolian and my height is 168cm and I was shortest in university.
4:22 am
maybe, mongolian avarege height posted here is not true
4:30 am
This is strange… very Strange. This census is really outdated. I have been to India, Japan and China. We were doing a height census in rural, and urban areas and found the following:
India: Males (29>) – 178.817
Young Males (16-28)- 182.887
China: Males (29>) – 179.823
Young Males (14-28)- 188.887
Japan: Males (29>) – 178.721
Young Males (16-28)- 185.751
Is this info been given to us really uptodate? Us we did to the Census this is what we found.
10:11 pm
This is not true at all. It all depends on the age of the sample. Most of asian countries including s.korea, japan and china are much less. The sample you have taken must be young generation only, and some other countries have way higher height that you represented here…
7:59 am
The Vietnamese height is soooo right. If I calculate the average height of me and the other 3 people in my family I get roughly 5″3.5 … Sooo my family is actually below average! Haha
8:48 am
average heigh in iran is 5’8″ your chart is not very exactly but thank’s for chart
4:28 am
This date is almost correct.
The tallest European are Dutch(185cm)
The tallest Asian are South Korean(175cm)
The tallest African are Kenya
11:31 am
The info on Serbs is way off!! Average Serbian and Montenegrin (most of them are Dinaric type = very tall and bony) men’s height is 186.5cm and women’s 171cm. This makes Serbian men the tallest men in Europe. Statistics are not really necessary, you just need to stand and watch people pass by in downtown Belgrade and it will very soon become obvious that the average height of people is way above any other European country with the exception of Netherlands. Dutch men and women are also exceptionally tall, but I believe I saw statistics for men – 185cm and women – 174cm. So, this chart’s is drastically incorrect! Careful citing it anywhere!
9:14 am
in wikipedia statu people are way higher.lithuania avarage is fake.in our schools say even doctor says that average height is 181.im 16years old.my height is177 and im average in class.my height should be181.i’ve been in sweden 6months maybe.and have seen many asians enough to imagine their height.their average is atleast half of head less than our average.aveage heigjt on WORLD is 174 also the best and the most healthy height for human is 175- 180
1:53 am
i am 5’6 but i want to stop growing -_- i feel too tall whenever I go to my relatives in the Philippines
3:23 am
Hahaha, bunch of Liars… 185 average in northern china? Are you kidding me… And the mongolian guy… hahaha.
4:40 pm
argentina 1,71? in most studies is between 1,74 and 1,76, just like uruguay
5:38 am
I think you forgot dinaric alps people which is average man height is 186.3
1:05 am
Anyone arguing the facts on this survey is an idiot. You do know this is a survey in which they do selective samples from groups and get the average right? Perhaps you should read the story before defending your own ethnic heights. There are always going to be extremes, very tall people and very short ones from all regions of the world. If everyone uses the “hey I know a guy taller” bullshit then every country must be over 6ft. Now these findings didn’t really tell me much about people’s height but it sure says a lot about people’s IQ.
4:16 pm
Agree with most comments here, this statistic is weird and SURELY outdated, I’m Indonesian and I’m 5.8 flat (I know exactly cuz I just got health check up lately), and I’m considered as “Average” for male here in Indonesia, also a lot of my friend have the same height as mine. there are even taller than me, like 2 guys I met in my new college, they are like 20cm taller than me.
Whoever made this article forgot the fact that world’s recent generations have grown taller.
*Pardon my english
*
4:00 am
iulian, at 180cm you are not average. most Romanian boys I see on the street are about 173-175cm. gotta move to a country with taller boys since i am a bit above 170
8:36 am
I live in Toronto, Canada and I’m 6 4, and I don’t think I’m particularly tall. I have 3 friends that are 6 5 and over. Whenever I’m in Downtown 70% of guys are taller than 6 4.
7:07 am
in india 58.5% are 5’7”and below. 26% are 5’8”-6’0”. 14.5% 6’0”-6’3” and rest are 6’4” and above.
7:17 am
i’m 5’5” 15yr old my dad is 5’3′ mom 5’1. I see most of men in my area are 5’4”. Tallest guy i’ve seen in my place probably 6’8” perhaps. I’m one of the shortest amongst our group my tallest friend is 6’0” whose bro is 6’2” lanky and tallest woman is 6’3”
3:21 pm
Eventhough this data may not be 100 % exact it is true that Scandinavians and northern west europeans are much taller and South Koreans are quite taller than other average asians. People are talking about their own experience with heights but this does not mean anything when you talk about a large number of ppl for stats.
12:16 am
I am 21 years old Korean living in Canada. I am 5.7 and considered very short there. I would say without any exaggeration that average young Korean male are 5’9”. For Canadian, 5’10”- very multicultural country and Caucasians are usualy tallest.. Based on my experience Koreans are generally taller than other oriental race. I think it’s because Korean’s ancestors are genetically closer to Caucasian as similar to Mongolians- this is why it is suprising that Mongolians are short
10:05 am
This is humiliating. You are totally wrong. The average height for people of the Dinaric Alps (Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia,etc.) is over 6’1″. You know nothing. Southern Slavic people are the tallest. But you keep on thinking with your 18th century poll results.
12:25 am
This is all very interesting, but the two big facts to take away are that Northern Europeans (and northern Chinese btw) are damn tall. The second moe interesting fact is that everyone seems to be getting taller (except the North Koreans who are starving themselves shorter), the question is, with people growing half an inch a generation, where does it end? will we all be 8ft in the year 3000?
6:24 am
LOL at people on here defending their own countries. Yeah, because a biased study made in YOUR COUNTRY is going to be more valid than an unbiased study of the world’s height by country.
… and lol at the Natasha idiot saying “statistics don’t matter”, are you fucking kidding me, you dumb cunt?
1.87m MANMORE here, come the fuck at me, you angry manlets.
11:53 am
thenorthernchinese says:
“northern chinese 18-25 guys are 6’1 (185cm) tall in average. im 6’4 and im not towering over people in my high school”
…bullshit
12:46 pm
Hello,
I’m a Dutch guy myself with the height of 193cm.
As for my knowledge my height is pretty normal here. I see more and more people here these days who are surely over 200cm tall.
8:59 am
I m 5 ft 9 inch indian boyz but the average height of india is 5’5 n there r many people just taller than me
9:36 am
I Think Kenya Should be number 2. The Masai are really tall
2:37 pm
I would like to know what time of day these studies were done. It is a proven fact that people are taller in the morning. As the day goes on, the spine contracts giving us a shorter height at night. The change in height can be up to an inch and a half in one day. It depends on how hard you work, as in exercise, in a day. In the morning when you wake up the next day, you will have the same stature as you did the previous morning because your spine relaxes while you are lying down.
2:13 am
I am a nepali person. I am at a height of 193cm and i think i am taller but not quite. Because i saw many people who were way taller than me. So according to the census report 2002 the average height of nepal 173cm and 166cm for men and women is incorrect. And it must be 181cm and 173cm for men and womens respectively. Include this data on your chart.
10:05 pm
This is a whole lot of bullshit. I have been to India, NO ONE I have met has ever been below 5’6″ there, well with the exception of VERY few. I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that their average height is 5’3″. This list is a crock of shit. Indians are actually considered to have tall people there. Go to India once and tell me the average height isn’t 5’8-5’9ish. Lyin ass bitch. It’s also funny how you went with stereotypes of Europeans being very tall and Asians being the shortest. Unfortunately for you, an Asian who’s been to Asia saw this and knows the actual facts. Stop perpetuating stereotypes you dumb fuck.
9:32 pm
This data seems a bit outdated
6:43 am
im from pakistan…. im 22 years old and my hight is 5.7″
8:31 am
@northernchinaman – In your dream. Or your high school must be one of those china institutions kidnapping little kids and working/steroiding them to death to be olympians. And let’s not forget, northern china used to be part of Mongolia and the residents there once Mongolians. The average height of Mongolia is 166cm which makes you a lier. Besides, these heights are average heights of a whole country. Everybody can say I know a certain region in my country and their average height is such and such, hence, the data is wrong. But I don’t blame you since your brain is also Made in China. There must be something wrong with it.
4:15 am
I’m a 14 year old from Romania and I’m taller than the average male in Holland – I’m proud of my 1.86 m height.
10:49 am
Believe me im 17 years old and im 1.86 cm and Most people in my country dwarf me. I think that the average height in Holland is now 1.90 cm
6:41 pm
5’3 age 16…I’m so short! (adverage in school for fem.) I’ve already stoped growing, so I’m gonna stay 160cm.. what’s funny is that I’m the shortest in my family on my mother’s(german, dutch, romanian, cherokee, american) and father’s (german, british, american) sides of the family..
10:52 pm
fuck non whites
4:30 pm
your being quite rude and racist
5:32 pm
I am not trying to dispute the results but all i know is I am 187cm tall (6ft2) and when i travel to my native land of Serbia i feel like a child in crowds considering how tall everyone else is…
10:50 pm
indians average height will be 175cm
2:51 pm
I’m 169 cm Swedish female (21 yrs old) and the shortest in my family. From my experience, the only people taller than us Scandinavians are the Dutch, so I would say that even though the numbers are wrong here, the list isn’t all that wrong. Also, I have travelled A LOT so I know what I’m talking about.
7:54 pm
hi my name Mark I’m 17 year old 5ft6inch from Philippines I’m considered tall in Philippines but in Canada,Vancouver Considered above short, but I’m still Growing tall. my brother is 5ft11-6ft he’s too tall. my family might have mix of races in our blood line.
6:33 pm
im American and im 5’11 aand only 14 years old… im going to be around 6’8-6’10
12:57 pm
I’m from Kosovo I’m short at 166cm tall, but in Kosovo I feel slightly shorter than average height, girls there seem to be at 168-170cm tall some are short others are taller, and my brother is 188cm tall he seems average there in Kosovo.
Dutch people are very very tall from my expirence. About Serbia and Montenegro I’ve been there and by average they are similar to North Albanians… It’s funny how when mentioning Dinaric people they refuse to mention Albanians on it considering that they are more Dinaric than the Slavs who settled in the region. The Height Dinaric mountain peaks are I. Albania, Malesia and Kosovo… But the Slavs wouldn’t mention Albanians on it, even though they are more closer related to ancient Illyrians than Slavs.
I have been to Balkans, and I remember seeing Lithuanian and Latvian tourist there, they made both Slavic and Albanians look like insects.
1:07 pm
I also forgot to mention I’ve also seen a lot of Albanians in Kosovo and Malesia region taller than my brother who is 188cm tall, but there are short ones too aswell at 175cm tall or shorter… But most are similar to my brother who is 188cm tall and some are even taller, The ones in Malesia are even taller.
Still Dutch are the tallest, the only result I don’t agree with is the Lithuanian one, they are much taller than that.
4:55 am
Montengero should be added to the list as top 5. Lithuania should be higher at least top 5 as well.
Been to Serbia they are tall but no way taller than Lithuanians or Australians or even Austrians.
During holiday tallest people I saw was in Holland, Austria, Montenegro, Bosnian and Northern Albania… But south Albanians are short.
Lithuania and Montenegro should be top 5.
2:21 pm
i am shortest in this world . my hight is 5.2 inch my age is 23.
5:11 pm
Why are all the Non-chinese people here hating on the Northern Chinese and saying that Northern Chinese are short????? Um NO. Northern China produces the tallest people in the world. Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin, Gong Li, the tallest man in the world, etc…
The reason why China’s height is so short is because us Southern Chinese and Cantonese are dragging the average down a little. Many Southern Chinese average around 5’6″. And there are MORE southern Chinese than Northern Chinese. Once again, Northern Chinese are pretty tall. I have been to Shaanxi, Beijing, Shandong and the men and women were pretty tall. Anyone who claims Northern Chinese are short is a jealous shortfuck with a napoleon complex. 1 more thing. Many Mongolians are taller than this c’mon! The average Mongolian is a 5’7″ and their country is pretty poor.