World’s tallest populace seem to be getting shorter, reveals study

According to Dutch researchers, Netherlands has long been the world's tallest nation but its people are getting shorter. Although height has increased over the last 100 years, the study showed that the dutch men born in 2001 were 1 centimetre shorter than their 1980 counterparts.

For women, the difference was more pronounced with a difference of 1.4 centimetres.

The study by Statistics Netherlands, municipal health service the GGD and the National Institute for Public Health, the RIVM, analysed 719,000 Dutch-born individuals between the ages of 19 and 60 who self-reported their height and used the average height at age 19 as a benchmark.

The reason for the height decrease is attributed to increased levels of immigration from shorter population groups.

However, growth also tapered off for individuals whose parents were both born in the Netherlands. Also, for those whose four grandparents were all Dutch-born.

The study concluded that around 3 per cent of the 1930-34 generation were at least 190 centimetres tall, in 2020 more than 20 per cent is at least 190 centimetres, with 7 per cent at more than 195 centimetres.

In the 1950s, 42 per cent of young men were shorter than 175 centimetres, but in 2020, that figure is just 12 per cent.

For the same generation of women, less than 2 per cent of the 1930-34 cohort reached a height of 180 centimetres.

Among those born in 1980 however, nearly 10 per cent are at least 180 centimetres tall.