Average human height by country

Below are two tables which report the average adult human height by country or geographical region. With regard to the first table, original studies and sources should be consulted for details on methodology and the exact populations measured, surveyed, or considered. With regard to the second table, these estimated figures for adult human height for said countries and territories in 2019 and the declared sources may conflict with the findings of the first table.

Accuracy
As with any statistical data, the accuracy of the findings may be challenged. In this case, for the following reasons:


 * Some studies may allow subjects to self-report values. Generally speaking, self-reported height tends to be taller than measured height, although the overestimation of height depends on the reporting subject's height, age, gender and region.
 * Test subjects may have been invited instead of random sampling, resulting in sampling bias.
 * Some countries may have significant height gaps between different regions. For instance, one survey shows there is 10.8 cm gap between the tallest state and the shortest state in Germany. Under such circumstances, the mean height may not represent the total population unless sample subjects are appropriately taken from all regions with using weighted average of the different regional groups.
 * Different social groups can show different mean height. According to a study in France, executives and professionals are 2.6 cm taller, and university students are 2.55 cm taller than the national average. As this case shows, data taken from a particular social group may not represent a total population in some countries.
 * Height measurement can vary over the course of a day, due to factors such as a decrease from exercise done directly before measurement (i.e. inversely correlated), or an increase since lying down for a significant period of time (i.e. positively correlated). For example, one study revealed a mean decrease of 1.54 cm in the heights of 100 children from getting out of bed in the morning to between 4 and 5 p.m. that same day. Such factors may not have been controlled in all of the following studies.

Measured and self-reported figures
{{Legend|#CBFECB;|Data are representative of the majority of the adult population in the country or region.}} Note: Letters in grey indicate non-measured height.

Accuracy


As with any statistical data, the accuracy of the findings may be challenged. In this case, for the following reasons:


 * The study uses a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the trends in mean height from 1985 to 2019. 1,344 academics having collated the results of 2,181 studies covering 65 million people. Their findings are based on selected material rather than all available.
 * The table and diagrams of this subsection are reliant on one singular publication which in turn cites surveys that are largely not available to the public because the public has no free access to them (e.g. mean height, standard deviation, background factors, etc.).
 * Height measurement can vary over the course of a day, due to factors such as a decrease from exercise done directly before measurement (i.e. inversely correlated), or an increase since lying down for a significant period of time (i.e. positively correlated). For example, one study revealed a mean decrease of 1.54 cm in the heights of 100 children from getting out of bed in the morning to between 4 and 5 p.m. that same day. Such factors may not have been controlled in the following study.

Estimated figures
Countries and territories are sorted according to the average of the male and female mean height: