Average height in France, compared with India
Population means from measured data. A gap of a few centimetres between two national averages tells you about childhood nutrition, not about anyone you will meet.
Mean adult height in France: 179.7 cm (5'11") for men and 164.9 cm (5'5") for women.
That is 14.8 cm taller than the Indian male mean of 164.9 cm, and 12.3 cm taller for women.
Side by side
| Country | Men (cm) | Men (ft-in) | Women (cm) | Women (ft-in) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 179.7 | 5'11" | 164.9 | 5'5" |
| India | 164.9 | 5'5" | 152.6 | 5'0" |
| Difference | +14.8 | — | +12.3 | — |
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 the gap does and does not mean
National mean heights are among the most reliable long-run indicators of childhood nutrition and disease burden that exist, because height is measured objectively and accumulates the whole of a childhood into one number. That is the useful reading of a difference between two countries.
The useless reading is as a statement about individuals. The standard deviation of adult height within any population is around 7 cm, so the overlap between two countries differing by 5 cm is nearly complete. There are more tall people in India than there are people in most of the countries in this table.
Other comparisons
Questions
Are people in France taller than in India?
On the pooled measured data, mean adult male height in France is 179.7 cm against 164.9 cm in India — a difference of 14.8 cm, with France higher. For women the figures are 164.9 cm and 152.6 cm, a difference of 12.3 cm. Both figures are population means and say nothing about any individual.
Why is there a difference?
Between-country differences in adult height are overwhelmingly driven by childhood nutrition, infection burden and living conditions rather than by genetics — the same populations have gained or failed to gain height across a single century, far faster than any genetic change could act. Height is, in that sense, one of the better summary indicators of how well a country feeds and protects its children.
What is the 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. Figures are for the born 1996 cohort. These are pooled from measured heights rather than self-reported ones, which matters — self-reported height surveys are systematically overstated.
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.