Height of American Men and Women

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(1) For centuries--ever since heights were recorded--American men and women were the tallest in the world. Until four years ago.

Rob Stein, America Loses Its Stature as Tallest Country. Washington Post, Aug 13, 2007.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/12/AR2007081200809.html

Quote:

"U.S. adults lost their position as the tallest people on Earth to the Dutch, who average about two inches taller than the typical American.

"The colonists were about two inches taller than the British they defeated in the Revolutionary War, and Americans towered about three inches above the average Dutch and other Europeans by the 1850s.

(2) Mind you, Americans are not ten feet tall. See
Health & Nutrition, in 2011 Statistical Abstract. US Census Bureau, 2011. http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/health_nutrition.html
Table 205 - Cumulative Percent Distribution of Population by Height And Sex [Excel 41k] | [PDF 66k]: median for males: 5'8"-5'9" for 60 and older and 5'9"-5'10" for 59 and younger;
median for females 5'2"-5'3'' for 70 and older, 5'3"-5'4" for 50-69 and 5'4"-5'5" for 20-49)

Note: In a nutshell,
Body Measurements (Data are for the US). US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Apr 2, 2009 (FastStats).
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/bodymeas.htm

Quote:

"Measured average height, weight, and waist circumference for adults ages 20 years and over
•Men:
Height (inches):  69.4
Weight (pounds): 194.7
Waist circumference (inches):   39.7
•Women:
Height (inches):   63.8
Weight (pounds):  164.7
Waist circumference (inches):   37.0"

(3) The reason: In terms of height, Americans are standing still while folks in other developed nations make great stride, particularly Koreans.

Society at a Glance--OECD Social Indicators. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2009
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/27/22/42672498.pdf
("Key Findings: United States [heading]   Adult height: Americans are not getting taller. The United States is the only country in the OECD where men and women aged 45-49 are no taller than those aged 20-24 years old, indicating no improvement in health and social conditions determining gains in height. All other 22 OECD countries are seeing greater height gains between these two generations.")

The graphic indicated: Growth rate between teh cohorts aged 45-49 years and 20-24 years: Men, Korea (3.5%), followed by Spain (2.8%), and USA (0.1%); Women Spain (3..25%), followed by Korea (2.6%), andUSA (-0.2%).

Note:
(a) Again, the data showed that among OECD member nations, height increase in women was not as much as that in men.
(b) Neither Taiwan (for political reason) nor China (for obvious reason) is a member of OECD.

(3) Ogden CL et al, Mean Body Weight, Height, and Body Mass Index, United States1960–2002. CDC, Advance Data (from Vital and Health Statistics), No 347, Oct 27, 2004.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad347.pdf

Patricia Cohen, Technology Advances; Humans Supersize. New York Times, Apr 27, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/books/robert-w-fogel-investigates-human-evolution.html?_r=1

Quote:

"the average adult man in 1850 in America stood about 5 feet 7 inches and weighed about 146 pounds; someone born then was expected to live until about 45.

"And in Norway an average 22-year-old man was about 5 ½ inches taller at the end of the 20th century (5 feet 10.7 inches) than in the middle of the 18th century (5 feet 5.2 inches).

"Before the 19th century, most people were caught in an endless cycle of subsistence farming. A colonial-era farmer, for example, worked about 78 hours during a five-and-a-half-day week.

Note: The graphic: "The average height of native-born American men rose four inches between 1890 and 1980" from 5'6" to 5'10". In comparison, that of native-born American women rose one and a half inches between 1910 and 1980--from 5' 2 1/2" to 5'4" ("data not available for women prior to 1910").

(5) Europeans have steadfastly grown taller in the past 2 1/2 centuries (like Americans).

Robert W Fogel and Nathaniel Grotte, An Overview of the Changing ody: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World Since 1700. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), April 2011  (Working Paper 16938)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w16938.pdf
(Table 1. Estimated average final heights (cm) of men who reached maturity between 1750 and 2000 in six European populations, by quarter-­‐centuries: Denmark, France, Great Britain,Hungary, Norway and Sweden)


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