Average height by country
Measured, pooled and published by the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration for the born 1996 cohort — not self-reported, and not scraped from a listicle.
The table
| Country | Men (cm) | Men (ft-in) | Women (cm) | Women (ft-in) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 182.5 | 6'0" | 168.7 | 5'6" |
| Belgium | 181.7 | 6'0" | 165.5 | 5'5" |
| Denmark | 181.4 | 5'11" | 167.2 | 5'6" |
| Germany | 179.9 | 5'11" | 165.9 | 5'5" |
| France | 179.7 | 5'11" | 164.9 | 5'5" |
| Sweden | 179.7 | 5'11" | 165.7 | 5'5" |
| Norway | 179.7 | 5'11" | 165.6 | 5'5" |
| Australia | 179.2 | 5'11" | 165.9 | 5'5" |
| Ireland | 178.9 | 5'10" | 165.1 | 5'5" |
| Ukraine | 178.5 | 5'10" | 166.3 | 5'5" |
| Switzerland | 178.4 | 5'10" | 163.5 | 5'4" |
| Canada | 178.1 | 5'10" | 163.9 | 5'5" |
| Italy | 177.8 | 5'10" | 164.6 | 5'5" |
| New Zealand | 177.7 | 5'10" | 164.9 | 5'5" |
| United Kingdom | 177.5 | 5'10" | 164.4 | 5'5" |
| Austria | 177.4 | 5'10" | 164.6 | 5'5" |
| Poland | 177.3 | 5'10" | 164.6 | 5'5" |
| Greece | 177.3 | 5'10" | 164.9 | 5'5" |
| United States of America | 177.1 | 5'10" | 163.5 | 5'4" |
| Israel | 176.9 | 5'10" | 161.8 | 5'4" |
| Spain | 176.6 | 5'10" | 163.4 | 5'4" |
| Russian Federation | 176.5 | 5'9" | 165.3 | 5'5" |
| South Korea | 174.9 | 5'9" | 162.3 | 5'4" |
| Argentina | 174.6 | 5'9" | 159.2 | 5'3" |
| Turkey | 174.2 | 5'9" | 160.5 | 5'3" |
| Fiji | 173.9 | 5'8" | 161.7 | 5'4" |
| Brazil | 173.6 | 5'8" | 160.9 | 5'3" |
| Portugal | 172.9 | 5'8" | 163.0 | 5'4" |
| Singapore | 172.6 | 5'8" | 160.3 | 5'3" |
| China | 171.8 | 5'8" | 159.7 | 5'3" |
| Japan | 170.8 | 5'7" | 158.3 | 5'2" |
| United Arab Emirates | 170.5 | 5'7" | 158.7 | 5'2" |
| Kenya | 169.6 | 5'7" | 158.2 | 5'2" |
| Colombia | 169.5 | 5'7" | 156.9 | 5'2" |
| Thailand | 169.2 | 5'7" | 157.9 | 5'2" |
| Mexico | 169.0 | 5'7" | 156.8 | 5'2" |
| Malaysia | 167.9 | 5'6" | 156.3 | 5'2" |
| Saudi Arabia | 167.7 | 5'6" | 155.9 | 5'1" |
| Pakistan | 166.9 | 5'6" | 153.8 | 5'1" |
| South Africa | 166.7 | 5'6" | 158.0 | 5'2" |
| Egypt | 166.7 | 5'6" | 157.3 | 5'2" |
| Ethiopia | 166.2 | 5'5" | 155.7 | 5'1" |
| Nigeria | 165.9 | 5'5" | 156.3 | 5'2" |
| Sri Lanka | 165.7 | 5'5" | 154.6 | 5'1" |
| Peru | 165.2 | 5'5" | 152.9 | 5'0" |
| India | 164.9 | 5'5" | 152.6 | 5'0" |
| Viet Nam | 164.4 | 5'5" | 153.6 | 5'0" |
| Bangladesh | 163.8 | 5'4" | 150.8 | 4'11" |
| Indonesia | 163.6 | 5'4" | 152.8 | 5'0" |
| Guatemala | 163.4 | 5'4" | 149.4 | 4'11" |
| Philippines | 163.2 | 5'4" | 149.6 | 4'11" |
| Nepal | 162.3 | 5'4" | 150.9 | 4'11" |
Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). “A century of trends in adult human height.” eLife 2016;5:e13410, with country mean heights updated at ncdrisc.org. Data downloads.
What a country average is worth
Roughly 80% of the variation in adult height between individuals is genetic, but almost all of the variation between countries and across generations is nutritional and environmental. That is why national averages have moved by ten centimetres or more in a century in some countries and barely at all in others, while the genetics did not change.
It also means a national average predicts an individual poorly. The spread within any country is far wider than the gap between most pairs of countries in this table.
India compared with…
Country means from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration pooled analysis of measured adult height. General information only — not medical advice. Growth varies enormously between healthy individuals; a single measurement means little. Discuss any concern about a child's growth with a paediatrician. See data & method for every source, survey round and rounding rule used on this site.