S. Korean women grew 20㎝ for 100 years to 162 cm on average

The average height of South Korean women is found to have grown the fastest in the world over the past 100 years, a study showed. The average height of South Korean men also increased the third fastest in the world during the same period.

The U.K. daily Financial Times on Tuesday reported the result of a study on how much 18.6 million men and women aged 18 in 179 countries had grown during 1914 - 2014. The survey was conducted by a team led by Prof. Majid Ezzati of the Imperial College London in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

The average height of South Korean women increased 20.1 centimeters from 142.2 centimeters in 1914 to 162.3 centimeters in 2014. The average height of Japanese women gained 16 centimeters to 158.3 centimeters, and that of Serbian women increased 15.7 centimeters to 167.7 centimeters, growing the second and third fastest, respectively. The average height of Chinese women gained 9.5 centimeters during the 100 years to 159.7 centimeters, while that of American women added 5 centimeters to 163.5 centimeters. The average height of North Korean women was 149.1 centimeters in 1914, taller than that of South Korean women, but was shorter than South Korean women in 2014, as the former only grew 9.9 centimeters to 159.0 centimeters.

During the same period, the average height of South Korean men gained 15.1 centimeters from 159.8 centimeters to 174.9 centimeters. Thus South Korean men grew the third fastest in the world after Iranian men (16.5 centimeters) and Greenland men (15.4 centimeters). The average height of North Korean men (160.6 centimeters) was taller than that of South Korean men 100 years ago, but the height of the former stood at 172.0 centimeters in 2014.

Overall, the height grew more robustly in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Americans saw their growth relatively slow down. As of 2014, the Dutch men were the tallest (182.5 centimeter) in average height in the world, while the Latvian women were the tallest (169.8 centimeters). Countries with shortest men and women in average height in the world are East Timor (159.8 centimeters) and Guatemala (149.4 centimeters). The U.S., whose men and women were the third and fourth tallest in the world 100 years ago, ranked blow 40th with men 177.1 centimeters tall and women 163.5 centimeters.

“A theory suggests that the growth of Americans’ height slowed due to immigration of peoples from different countries,” the research team said. “The nutrition quality of Americans’ diet has deteriorated and is not balanced, which is another problem.”

조은아 기자achim@donga.com