Average height and weight by country

Average sizes of men and women

The following table shows the average sizes, weights and BMI from 127 countries. All figures refer to men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 years. In the US, the average male is 1.77 m tall. The average US-american woman reaches 14 cm less with a height of 1.63 m.

Heights by continents

A pure list by country may be helpful when it comes to classifying yourself in your environment. Here once again, is a list summarized by subcontinent. Here too, it is clear that there are differences within a continent. For example, the weight of Southeast Asians and Polynesians differs slightly from the rest of the subcontinent. With regard to body size, there are noticeable variations between Southern Europeans, North Americans and Near Easterners and the rest of the respective continent.

Influences on body size

The main reasons for regional differences in body size are heredity and nutritional standards. Protein-rich food is important, and this is noticeable over generations. Although protein is considered an essential component here, a weakening of the body due to diseases and allergies also has an inhibiting effect on growth. Diseases occur more frequently as a result of weaknesses in the immune system and consume the energy that the body could put into its growth. Good health is primarily due to a good diet, but also a good health system with adequate medical care. As a result, the average body size is remarkably low, especially in poor countries of the third world.

Genetic predispositions are another factor for body size. It is not individual genes that speak for or against pronounced growth, but rather the interaction of several dozen genes. Thus, the expressions of these genes are passed on in families or ethnic groups.

Historical increase in size

In almost all countries of the world, the average body size has increased significantly over the last 100 years. While German men were still approximately 13 cm smaller at the beginning of the 20th century, Spanish men increased over 14 cm and Iranians over 16 cm. With the women, the height of South-Korean-women rose by over 20 cm.

These drastic increases are unique in the history of human beings. In no phase of evolution have human beings become so much bigger as since the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century. In the preceding 1,000 years, both men and women did not grow at all on average and before that only by 1-2 cm per 1,000 years.

Strikingly often, an international comparison of penis sizes is requested here, which is now available on a separate page. Additionally an evaluation of the average cup sizes by country now exists.

Data sources

All data for sizes and weights are based on a summary of scientific studies evaluated and published by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). The more than 2,000 studies summarized there are from the analysis of the year 2022. A summary of more than 3,600 studies from the years 1990 to 2022 can also be found in the medical journal The Lancet.