Average Male Height By Country Updated (official data)Scientific research:

[Lietuvis]

Something doesnt sit right with me re lithuania. I am 6ft and one of the shortest of my friends. I walk around the city and I feel short. Maybe the figures you have here are for old men?

I have also lived in Australia and I was much taller than the average person there because you have many nations (cam bodia, vitenam etc) at the bottom of your list living there (permament). I think you figures are skewed somewhat.

[tpraseri]

Something doesnt sit right with me re lithuania. I am 6ft and one of the shortest of my friends. I walk around the city and I feel short. Maybe the figures you have here are for old men?

I have also lived in Australia and I was much taller than the average person there because you have many nations (cam bodia, vitenam etc) at the bottom of your list living there (permament). I think you figures are skewed somewhat.

Lithuania: (Official research)

http://medicina.kmu.lt/0601/0601-08e.pdf

In rural areas the avg is shorter...The avg of university students in Lithuania is 182cm(the avg is different according to social class),probably in your city the average is taller-ex:North China(Urban) avg height is 177cm(younger),
South China (Urban) avg height is 172cm(younger),China (rural) avg height is 167cm(younger)...same country,different averages.

[tpraseri]

Great work Tpraseri! That must have taken you some while+effort to post all this data

Yes man... 2-3 months of research.Is very hard to find the true average(a lot of wrong numbers in internet,ex.Iran 178.7,Romania 178,Saudi Arabia 174.6,Indonesia 170,Peru 173.8,Egypt 175,Iraq 176.3,France 177,Spain 178,Italy 165.6,Chile 173.0,Paraguay 173.1,Brazil 174.0,Portugal 174.6,Thailand 173.6,Switzerland 180.5,South Afirica 177.4,India 167.6,etc-All very wrong,without scientific research and age group)

[Gytaz]

Great work! But I don't believe that British population is taller than Lithuanian.

[Lietuvis]

A quick webserch shows slightly different results.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

[Khalid80]

Yes man... 2-3 months of research.Is very hard to find the true average(a lot of wrong numbers in internet,ex.Iran 178.7,Romania 178,Saudi Arabia 174.6,Indonesia 170,Peru 173.8,Egypt 175,Iraq 176.3,France 177,Spain 178,Italy 165.6,Chile 173.0,Paraguay 173.1,Brazil 174.0,Portugal 174.6,Thailand 173.6,Switzerland 180.5,South Afirica 177.4,India 167.6,Mexico 171.8 etc-All very wrong,without scientific research and age group)

Wow !! That's quite a long time! By the way which link did u use to get the height averages for my country (Lebanon)?

And concerning the accuracy of the results, how can u be sure that they r reliable? (I think the best references would be statistics obtained from official sources such as governments or agencies working with known institutions such as the UN)

Keep up the good work

[tpraseri]

A quick webserch shows slightly different results.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

because the age group is different,self-reported researches(inflated values),time of measurement(people are 1-2cm taller in the first 2 hours of the day),wrong samples(even in scientific researches),many researches are old...You need to calculate the values(with regressions and secular trend,I'm using my knowlegde in statistics to do it,I'm scholar of anthropometry)

Look here,many contraditory researches:

http://www.thegreatsleep.com/height.htm

[rikhardur]

I'm scholar of anthropometry)

Interesting, perhaps we can discuss why are Dinarids so tall and Alpinids so short

[pachador]

the watusis actual height is closer to 5'7" based on what i read a few years ago with height extremes of course. the reason they were giants a few hundred years ago was because the europeans back then had poor nutrition so the european explorers were probably(my guess) between 5'2" to 5'6" in height.

i think if the dinkas and watusi grew in the U.S. with good nutrition, they would probably average 6 feet and over.

height padding might also be common in some countries specially if their height average is based on what survey respondents reported as compared to actualy measurement by researchers so for some countries you might want to deduct 2 or 3 inches

this is what i can tell you from observations. i ride the train everyday in los angeles , and i noticed that guys who work in the the financial district(high paying white collar jobs) are much taller than the average paying white collar and/or blue colar jobs. i think taller applicants get hired more frequently for the higher paying jobs.
also, at a competitive pick-up league i play at, the players are taller than the average guy i see when i shop in home depot or at supermarkets.
so there are height diferences that hover around the average.

[mvblair]

with good nutrition

So much of height must be determined by what kind of nutrition a person has, especially in their early years.

[tpraseri]

Wow !! That's quite a long time! By the way which link did u use to get the height averages for my country (Lebanon)?

And concerning the accuracy of the results, how can u be sure that they r reliable? (I think the best references would be statistics obtained from official sources such as governments or agencies working with known institutions such as the UN)

Keep up the good work

Sorry,no link for Lebanon(My reference is an article about height in a book of anthropometry)the avg is increasing in Lebanon:
(20-25years)avg is 176.5 (26-30years avg is 175.7) So in 2007-2008 the avg of Lebanon is 176.2(20-30years)

Yes, I am trying to use only official sources...

[pohani komarac]

because I could not find a scientific research of Montenegro...

I know the average height of the Dinaric Alps:185.6cm (younger)
(Dinaric Alps is a small area(sparsely populated-only small cities) of these countries:Montenegro,Serbia,Croatia,Albania,Bosnia ,Macedonia,Slovenia)
The avgs of these countries(in the list) are shorter 179-180cm(the most part of the population of these countries, is out of the Dinaric Alps)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinaric_Alps

yes it's true. the reason there are no montenegrians is probabley because they are new formed country and i know many montenegrians who are very tall.

i am 182cm and i live in region who has mixed population from dinaric alps and panonska nizina (don't know is there any english name for that region), border of dinaric alps. and i'm about avrege hight here. when i was in north croatia i was motsley taller than everybody else, but when i was i south (dalmatia) croatia i felt prety small . i also viseted hercegovina where mostley bosnian croat lives almoust everybody where taller then me.

hight along with great coaching school and sport's colture is bigest reason why ex yugoslavia (croatia, serbia, slovenia, bosnia and hercegovina, montenegro, macedonia and kosovo) had so many great players and great results in basketball.

[tpraseri]

yes it's true. the reason there are no montenegrians is probabley because they are new formed country and i know many montenegrians who are very tall.

i am 182cm and i live in region who has mixed population from dinaric alps and panonska nizina (don't know is there any english name for that region), border of dinaric alps. and i'm about avrege hight here. when i was in north croatia i was motsley taller than everybody else, but when i was i south (dalmatia) croatia i felt prety small . i also viseted hercegovina where mostley bosnian croat lives almoust everybody where taller then me.

hight along with great coaching school and sport's colture is bigest reason why ex yugoslavia (croatia, serbia, slovenia, bosnia and hercegovina, montenegro, macedonia and kosovo) had so many great players and great results in basketball.

hey man, thank you for the information!I will include Montenegro in the list!I read in wikipedia:
"As such, Montenegro is the only country to lie entirely within the Dinaric Alps as all other lands extend to areas outside the region."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinaric_Alps

[Lietuvis]

because the age group is different,self-reported researches(inflated values),time of measurement(people are 1-2cm taller in the first 2 hours of the day),wrong samples(even in scientific researches),many researches are old...You need to calculate the values(with regressions and secular trend,I'm using my knowlegde in statistics to do it,I'm scholar of anthropometry)

Look here,many contraditory researches:
http://www.thegreatsleep.com/height.htm

You work is truly interesting to me and I guess the forum with all the repsonses. I have a few theories of my own, mostly related to the travels that I have experienced around the world but again are most probably unfounded.

The first is that people from warmer climates are typically shorter than those from colder climates. I am 6ft in height and it is quite obvious when you do travel to a location you can feel either shorter or taller based on the general populus around you. I found when I was in Spain, Italy, Chile, Australia I was much taller than the average Joe. When I travelled through northern europe I feel quite short especially walking through places like Copenhagen airport

Secondly I would like to further my comments and expand in regards to Lithuanian statistics presented. The paper seems to be measuring people in the army. Typically in Lithuania if you are of decent height you will end up playing basketball as it is our second religion and hence be overlooked in this survey?

This leads me on to the next part as this being a small country we have had a lot of success with tall basketball players such as Sabonis, Ilgauskas, Andriuskevicius (all ~7'3" + many more) which in itself is truly amazing that a country is producing such tall players. Therefore what I would be interested with your statistical background to how this would factor in. I guess what I am trying to say is that if a country has a population of 3M yet has X people over 7"0 what distribution is then best to describe the "average" height. If a country does not have any people over 7'0" but has many at around 6'0" how does this compare?

[Beva]

The first is that people from warmer climates are typically shorter than those from colder climates. I am 6ft in height and it is quite obvious when you do travel to a location you can feel either shorter or taller based on the general populus around you. I found when I was in Spain, Italy, Chile, Australia I was much taller than the average Joe. When I travelled through northern europe I feel quite short especially walking through places like Copenhagen airport

I assure you, Montenegro, Dalmatia and Herzegovina all have hot Mediterranean climate, and tallest people in Europe, maybe in world also...

I think that has something to do with the life conditions over the past... All of that mentioned areas were very hostile environments... In Scandinavian countries, you have cold climate, and in Dinaric Alps you have stones, stones and more stones, with very little arable land... I think that hard conditions made only strongest to survive... By strongest, I mean the ones with good genetics... And gen for height was apparently, for some reason, very important... Maybe I'm wrong, but that sounds logical...

@tpraseri
I already gave you some insight for Dinaric Alps, maybe you didn't see it... Everything than pohani komarac (batter mosquito) said is true... There's no big difference in height between Montenegro, Dalmatia and Herzegovina, but Montenegro is independent country and their average will be the highest...