Being the tallest people in the world is not without disadvantage. In recent years, the Dutch have had to make changes to building codes in order to provide taller doorframes, and more "height" friendly aspects to each new building and auto design. Further, the measurement is “average height” which means some people far exceed 6 feet 1 inch. Some people are significantly taller and may stand nearly 7 feet (2.13 m) tall, which can make traveling in the average car quite uncomfortable.

Those who study these statistics suggest that the Dutch emphasis on early childhood care, a diet rich in dairy products and thus high in protein, and a fairly even distribution of wealth have contributed to making the Dutch the world’s tallest people. In contrast, in America, pockets of poverty , which contribute to poor childhood nutrition and lack of available healthcare, as well as immigration of shorter racial groups to America, have resulted in a shorter average height.

Researchers have attempted to account for what makes a certain country have the tallest people and conclude that factors for height include a combination of genetics and nutrition. The Dutch, several hundred years ago, were some of the tallest people in the world. Uneven distribution of wealth, poor nutrition, and years of bad crops certainly contributed to keeping the Dutch shorter for many years. From a genetic standpoint, though, the Dutch could have been the tallest people sooner with appropriate nutrition, especially during early childhood years.

Standing next to the Dutch, almost shoulder to shoulder, are the Danes. Average height in Denmark is 6 feet (1.83 m). Americans, who once were the tallest people, have fallen in stature and are on average about 5 feet 9 inches (1.76 m) for men.

There are taller people belonging to certain populations within countries. This is especially true of the Maasai people, who live in parts of Tanzania and Kenya. But as a whole, the citizens living in the Netherlands are on average, the tallest people. Even people who have immigrated to the Netherlands from other parts of the world are taller on average than their racial groups in their countries of origin.

Statistically, the tallest people in the world, as measured by country are the Dutch. The average height for all adults for the Netherlands is 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m). This great leap in height is a huge change for Holland, where about 100 years ago, 25% of men who attempted to join the army were rejected as being too short, less than 62 inches (1.57 m) tall.

Tricia has a Literature degree from Sonoma State University and has been a frequent wiseGEEK contributor for many years. She is especially passionate about reading and writing, although her other interests include medicine, art, film, history, politics, ethics, and religion. Tricia lives in Northern California and is currently working on her first novel.

Discussion Comments

anon114320 September 28, 2010 I'm From Egypt, 18 years old and I'm 185 cm. It's kind of normal here and i want to have friends from Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.

anon114011 September 27, 2010 My friend who is 6'2" recently was in Germany and he said he felt of average height for the first time in his life.

anon113807 September 26, 2010 I'm 25 years and Dutch. I'm a male 170 m tall or short, Compared to the most other dutch this is short, but I don't mind. It also has its good sides.

anon113675 September 25, 2010 Coming from the Balkans and also having lived in the Netherlands, I have to say I am almost certain that Montenegro, as a nation, has the tallest people in the world (both men and women). The other countries in the Balkans like Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia have regions with people taller than any Scandinavians, but as so many of you pointed out so many times, these are only regions, not countries. However, Montenegro, due to its small size and homogeneity is almost certainly no. 1. The problem is that unlike the Dutch, they keep poor records and it will take some time for this probable "fact" to register.

anon113108 September 23, 2010 most people of Asian or Latin descent are short..no point in leading anybody here to believe otherwise as the official statistics on any google search will show Asians to be around on average around 168 and latins 170cm Anything above 6ft 2 however is a silly height. the best height to be is around 5ft9 to 5ft 11 in my opinion for a man. Otherwise you simply look like a disproportionate brute

anon112795 September 22, 2010 i am 16 and i come from iraq. i live in new zealand. i am 6 foot and still growing but i am considered short because every one around my age is 6.1-6.2-6.3 but there are a lot of people who are very tall, like 6.5-6.6-6.7-6.8 and a lot of 7 footers to a population of of 4 million. most of the kiwis are very, very tall.

anon112587 September 21, 2010 I don't think height has anything to do with nationalities or anything like that. I'm a malaysian chinese male with only 174cm. (5'9') but that is considered above average here. and I saw lots of european tourists here and they are not very tall. most of them are just slightly taller than me and I've met many shorter than me. the tallest european was around 2m i guess. i think its the genes that determine whether you are tall or not.

anon112046 September 18, 2010 I heard Serbs are very tall on average. I know this guy who's about 6'7" easily and he always says he's one of the smaller guys from where he comes from. Typically if you're about 6'5" you're considered tall in america. I see tons of guys around 6' foot so that's not uncommon to be that height. I'm 5'8" and feel short though there are shorter guys. A very common height is around 5'10 for most men in america. Plus or minus an inch.

anon111801 September 18, 2010 I'm dinaric alps (bosnia sarajevo), 16 years old and 198 CM. danes are tall but bosnians are taller and lithuanians are very tall.

anon111787 September 18, 2010 I've never been to the Netherlands before but I mean look at the dutch football team! Most of them are below 6 foot. Wesley sneijder is only 5 feet 7. Do they just have a really short football team or are you guys just exaggerating their heights. I mean you guys are just talking about how the average in some parts is 6 ft 5! The dutch may be healthy at an early age but when they get old there are going to be some huge back problems!

anon111304 September 15, 2010 I am Albanian from the north, and 6'2" while my brother is 6'4". I have to say that on average Northern Albanians are much taller than the Southern ones. I have also traveled around the region and in my opinion Montenegrins are the tallest among the Balkan countries.

anon110797 September 13, 2010 Can anyone tell to me what is the average height of youngsters (18-25) in Texas and California?

anon110144 September 10, 2010 Dinaric people all the tallest ones. Average height in Split is 185.6 cm, and similarly is in that area, which encompasses parts of Montenegro and Bosnia. I found somewhere that average height in Montenegro is 188cm (6'2). I don't remember the source, just recall that I was not so convinced. Anyone else knows some official statistics on Montenegrins?

anon109909 September 9, 2010 The balkans is not a country. The Netherlands is the nation with the tallest people. Maybe some regions like the dinaric alps have a higher average height, but so do the northern provinces of the Netherlands, where the people are like 3 cm taller than average height in the Netherlands and taller than people from the dinaric alps.

anon109823 September 9, 2010 I'm from holland, 20 years 1,80 (5 ft 11). I live in the south of the netherlands and i am really one of the shortest guys in town. I was in the north of netherlands last summer and i can tell you that the average over there is at least 6 ft 5 or more. A friend of mine is 7 ft and he was really average over there, first time he could talk normally to people in the clubs. Good vaccination, good facilities, lots of good food, milk and minds made the dutch the tallest of the world.

anon108804 September 4, 2010 I am a Chinese-Canadian, 17 year old male and my height is 170cm. What's funny is that I'm taller than my parents. My dad is 164cm and my mom is 157cm. I read somewhere that Canada's average is the same as Japan. I couldn't agree more! Canada is home of the shortest white people in the world!

anon108570 September 3, 2010 i am from afghanistan. The average height of our tribe is 6 foot 6 and I am 7 foot 3 1/2.

anon108341 September 2, 2010 I'm Dutch, 21, and 1m96. i think the milk does play a big role in the dutch diet, and potatoes. americans used to be the tallest a hundred years ago, but from what i see on TV i think the american diet is not very healthy anymore.

anon107175 August 29, 2010 Well, I don't know about US in general, but California is definitely midget central. Seems like the average for a male here is 5'8. I'm a Russian female, 5'11 or 180cm. It is hard, if not almost impossible, to find a guy taller than me.

anon106905 August 27, 2010 i could not read all the comments. I'm just commenting as well. I'm 19 years old, 189 cm, Hungarian. i have some slavic blood in me and some Dinaric. Hungarians are not so tall, i live in the Netherlands and I'm small with my 189 cm.

anon106811 August 27, 2010 I'm Dutch, 17 year old male, 191 cm tall. Some girls at my school are 195+ and 17 years of age.

anon106118 August 24, 2010 The Dutch might be the tallest. Too bad I didn't get that 'tall' gene. I'm a 16 year old female, 100 percent dutch and only like 161cm.

anon105991 August 23, 2010 It is the Netherlands overall with the tallest people. Remember, it is the country with the highest rate of tall people, and the Netherlands is clearly the one. However, it is known that Northern Europeans have a lot of tall people as a normal thing. The Balkan region as well, but more specified areas and less spread out as the Nordic countries or the Netherlands. However, the most important thing is how the person is. The inside of a person and how smart the person (brains) is and what they do for society and for others. Also, being so tall is not the greatest thing as it has burdens. The best thing would be to know the ideal and functional height range for human beings. Being too tall becomes less functional and sometimes not healthy (many signs point to shorter lifespan for taller people and less circulation). So the best would be to fall into the functional/livable height range where you can be free, able to move normally, comfortable, not seen as strange by the public, and not left out. Left out as in, the train is too small for the taller ones, can't be comfortable in a small house, bumping into things and doorways. I certainly don't want to be too tall. I think the height range of 5 feet to 6'1 is the functional and livable range for society. The neutral heights. I'm from Canada.

anon105560 August 21, 2010 About the Maasai: The Nuer and Dinka of southern Sudan should be the ones noted here for there height. I believe the average is anywhere above 6'5''. I'm Maasai, by the way.

anon105307 August 19, 2010 I'm from Argentina and I'm 6 feet 10. I live in the United States now and I'm taller than almost everyone here!

anon103968 August 14, 2010 You just don't get it, do you? Maybe it's true what people say about Dinaric Alphs. They say that people who live there are the tallest. But the tallest people as nation, as a country, are Dutch.

anon103641 August 13, 2010 Just as somebody else mentioned this data is indeed old. It is widely considered that people of the 'Dinaric race'(Balkans) are actually the tallest in Europe slightly above Nordic people. Herzegovinians and Montenegrins are said to be tallest of all on average.

anon103527 August 12, 2010 The people in Split, Croatia are split: most are tall, but some are short. Most females are taller then me, and i am 187 tall(female).

anon103343 August 11, 2010 The Dutch are absolutely the tallest. When you see them abroad they are always the tallest in the crowd. Would like to know what their eating habits are.

anon103219 August 11, 2010 I am Albanian, 192 cm tall. My father is 205 cm and he told me that his grandfather was 210 cm tall. When i was in Turkey for holidays, i was stunned to see how tall Dutch people are. It was hard to find someone who was below 180 cm.

anon101586 August 4, 2010 Thank you Tóth Balázs Miskolc. But i've already known that.

anon101485 August 3, 2010 I'm over 6 feet 1 and I'm 15 years old. If you want to be taller, eat a lot of cheese drink milk, sleep a lot, and play baskettball, football, or volleyball, or go to the gym. good luck. -- Tóth Balázs Miskolc, Hungary

anon101016 August 1, 2010 15 year-old American girl here at 5 feet 2 inches tall (1.57m). I quit growing when I was about 12, oh well. I am the tallest woman in my family, though!

anon100716 7 hours ago to those people who say its the netherlands, not true. it is people from the dinaric alps so probably montenegro is tallest as it is situated in those alps. they separated from serbia not long ago, so i doubt there is data, and anyway, no one there would bother with it. but a search will come up with an average height of 186 for serb men. serbia and the netherlands are probably equal but serbia's next generation will probably overtake the next dutch generation. i am a 16 y/o girl, 177cm/5'10 of 100 percent polish descent and living in australia my whole life. my mum is 158/5'2 and my dad and older brother are about my height, my grandmothers were both about 4'11 as their full adult height and grandfathers were about 5'6/5'7, however my uncle on my mum's side is 6'2. i would say average for girls my age in australia is about 162, quite short.

anon100559 yesterday im 6.1 and i'm colombian-ecuadorian but i think it's because i live in america. however, Colombians are quite tall but Europeans to me take the cake.

anon100012 July 28, 2010 The tallest people (and that's a known fact) are people from Hercegovina, from the Dinaric mountains. Dutch are nothing compared to them. Montenegrinoes are tall, but not the tallest.

anon100006 July 28, 2010 i am cambodian i am 1.85m tall and 78kg. i think that's enough for me. don't you think so?

anon99999 July 28, 2010 I am 17 and living in turkey. my height is 1m85 and I have Albanian roots. I am so normal for an albanian but I am really tall for turkish people. I have 5 male cousins and they are 1m 98,1m 90,1m 88,1m 85 and 1m 81.I have a lot of bosnian friends and I think bosnians are taller than us! so bosnains, serbians and albanians are the tallest!

anon97902 July 21, 2010 I think dutch people are the tallest nation, also montenegrans. I am 180cm.

anon97807 July 21, 2010 This is all silly really. Almost mythic. I am 6'3" (190 cm) and when I was in Serbia felt that I was above average. Apart from one tall 6'7" guy everybody else was mostly circa 5'9". I have traveled widely with my wife in Europe, from Greece to Germany and I am based in Australia and I can honestly say most adult males are around 5'9" and females 5'5".

anon97247 July 19, 2010 Serbian heritage, 177cm, female. I was average in Serbia, but I'm so tall to the rest of Europeans. my brothers are 197cm and 202cm. my mom is 175cm. my dad is 195cm.

anon97146 July 18, 2010 American here 6ft 2.

anon97109 July 18, 2010 I'm 15 from Slovenia and I'm 195cm tall, and my serbian friend is 16 and 185cm tall, and my Bosnian friend is 16 and he is 169cm tall. And most of my Sloven friends are tall like me and my serbian and bosnian friends are tall like them.

anon95763 July 13, 2010 I am just asking someone for advice on how i could be taller -- at least 6 foot 1. That's all!

anon95549 July 13, 2010 Lol @ the guy from nj. I'm from central America and live in nj. I'm 6'5 and a lot of my cousins are 6 or taller. So before you try to make us look short get your facts right.

anon95285 July 12, 2010 I am 16 and I'm from Bulgaria. I am 179( almost 5ft 11) and i really would like to be taller. If anyone know what could i do to grow taller please let him/her write a comment. Thank you.

afghan30001 July 9, 2010 There is also another province in Afghanistan where the people are tall. In Kandahar, the average height of men is more than 180cm. The leader of the taliban is called mullah Omar and he is also from Kandahar and he is 2m.

afghan30001 July 9, 2010 In Afghanistan, there is a province called Nuristan, and the people who live there are the Nuristanis and they are almost all taller than 190 cm. The average height of men there is 190cm and from women 177 cm.

anon94406 July 8, 2010 I'm from bosnia - 210cm (6'11") 108kg. In bosnia, serbia, croatia, montenegro-the balkan counties are the tallest people by average. You can everywhere see people over two meters (6'7").

anon93042 July 1, 2010 Recently engaged. I am 5'2 latin woman (of lebanese, spanish, native and italian heritage) My fiance is 6'3 pure dutch. Reading the site he agrees that the Dutch have a diet based on dairy such as cheese, milk, yogurt, an other interesting products such as vla, etc. I am so curious how are kids are going to turn out. We live in Canada, and Canadians are big into dairy as well. I personally can't consume very many dairy products, but am hoping they will be tall like him and dark like me. Just wishing out loud.

anon92851 1 hours ago Wow, I feel short. I'm a 20 year old Afro-American female and I measure at 58 1/2 inches.

anon92768 14 hours ago I'm from vietnam. Here in vietnam, people are pretty short. The average height of men is 1m65, while women are 1m52 I am 16, 1m73 (5f7), but I am taller than most of people here.

anon92339 June 27, 2010 I am from Turkey, Istanbul. I am 17 and around 1.95 M. i am quite short in my family as most of the males in my family are above 2 M and females are above 1.80 M. My origin is from Bosnia, Sarajevo!

anon92218 June 26, 2010 I think Canada is actually taller than the United States now. I'm Canadian and have grown five inches in the past four months (I'm fifteen) and I'm four inches taller than my dad. I'm 6'1 1/2.

anon92100 June 25, 2010 I like this article and I like the comments too! Good stuff! I'm American and I've traveled all over Europe and in the Nordic countries and the Balkans. All of them are very, very tall. I felt like I was surrounded by NBA players/Euro style during my trek through these countries. Just a question though: Why are Black American men taller than most Africans? Most of the West and East African men I have met are very short or are of average height when compared to black men from the United States.

anon92036 June 25, 2010 I am an Indian from West Bengal, where the average height for men is 5'4" and for women is 5'. Everyone knows that India is a poor country with nearly half the population suffering from malnutrition. I would like to know what will be the average height of the Indians, both men and women, when India becomes a rich country like the Netherlands. Can anyone post a comment to me regarding this matter?

anon91912 June 24, 2010 I was interested in some height data when I came here, because whenever I travel with my colleges around Europe (because of my work) everybody is saying how tall we are. It was strange to me because I don't consider myself tall at all (I am 189cm). Why? Because where I came from, I am just average and that is BiHor more exactly Herzegovina. We are probably not included into this data because nobody here bothers with statistics.

anon91552 June 22, 2010 Hey, let's not get hung up on our state health care systems. As for the former Yugoslavs who seem to find this article so popular, face it: there might be tall areas in the Balkans but as a nation the Dutch are the tallest. I'm 6 feet 1in and English, above average for the UK. I visited Holland last year and everyone spoke to me in Dutch because I was average height there and fair haired/skinned. Simple! --Ben, UK

anon91397 June 21, 2010 Personally i think that Dinaric people are the tallest. I am from northern Albania myself, and i am 1.94. The six young males in my family are 196, 194, 194, 189, 187, 184cm. Older ones are 192, 190, 187, 184. Also, i have been in Montenegro and Croatia (Dalmatia), and people are very tall there too. It has to be connected with the Illyrian ancestry.

anon90792 June 18, 2010 I think montenegrins and serbs are tallest people in the world. I've been there some years ago. I saw a lot of youngers are above 6'7(2M), even many boys are over 7'(213CM). And the girls are very tall. I'm sure that even a man is 2m who can't be considered tall.

anon90433 June 16, 2010 Serbs are the tallest nation!

anon89925 June 13, 2010 I am indian, from kolkata and 184.5cm. any height above world average 5'8 is tall. Even 5'10 is considered tall. i translate to 6ft 3/4 inches. That's a good height.

anon89902 June 13, 2010 The tallest people in the world are Northern Albanians, Serbians, and people from Dinaric Alps (Bosnian, Croats, South Kosovo). These all are very mountainous regions, so I'm assuming that there is a lot of winter, and the way they feed their kids have to do with it. And Slovenians are not tall.

anon89567 June 10, 2010 I am from Bosnia (travnik), and I am tall. 227cm.

anon89459 June 10, 2010 Let's get a few facts straight. Yes the Dutch are on average, the tallest. There really is no need to say that your own nation is the tallest out of envy or whatever. Just don't argue with this scientific fact because you know some tall persons.

anon89451 June 10, 2010 My dad is 170 cm and from the northern part of the Netherlands and he's short there but when he travels to the south (250 km) he's average. I'm 189 cm, my kid brother is 195 and my sister is 184 and we don't feel we are tall.

anon89437 June 10, 2010 I'm 15 and 7'1, Dutch. I don't mind because my friends are same height. I really think it's in the dairy products. I have eaten from age three each night a cup of yogurt and milk and a sandwich with cheese. It never gets old.

anon89267 June 9, 2010 Serbs are the tallest nation.

anon88743 June 7, 2010 I am 1.86m tall and come from Bosnia. When being in a group of bosnian men I am barely average (depending on the group).

anon88481 June 5, 2010 My daughter is 12 years old. She is over 5'9" tall. We are Americans. My daughter is the tallest child in her school. She is also taller than most of the teachers. The school treats her different than the other kids, because she appears to be much older. She is mentally the same as all the other 12 year old kids.

anon88131 June 3, 2010 Mongolian here 188cm. Do you know why dutch people so tall?

anon87406 yesterday Female. 16 years old. Norway. I'm 1.66 m (around 5'5) and I think I am taller than most of my friends (those who are girls, the boys are towering me), but maybe they will grow more, but I have stopped growing.

anon87219 May 28, 2010 I'm 6'3 13yrs old and all american.

anon86878 May 27, 2010 I am 1.88 meter Indian. tallest in my family and taller than most of my friends.

anon86605 May 25, 2010 balkans-dinaric alps have the tallest: albanians, montenegrins, serbs, croats, bosnians.

anon86070 May 23, 2010 I am from America and of Dutch, Korean and Cherokee descent. I'm only 5'7 but my mother is 5'10 and father 6'1. My grandpa was 6'5.

anon85823 May 22, 2010 of course speaking from the so called west, a nordic country will always be printed. The tallest people are montenegro which is a mix of slavic/albanian illyrian race. however generally, the people from the dalmatian coast are tall.

anon85300 May 19, 2010 I grew up in Holland (born in 1947), now live in the USA. Dairy is definitely big in Holland. In elementary school, everyone got milk in school. A pint in the morning each day. Free to those who could not afford. Cheese (real cheese) was a daily staple too. So were boiled potatoes, by the way. All my brothers/cousins are over 6 feet. I was the runt in my family at 5 feet 6 inches.

anon85106 May 18, 2010 I have dated guys that were 6'2 and 6'4. My brother is 6'1. My father and mother on the other hand are 5'8/5'9. My late grandfather was the one with the tall genes. My brother has them. I don't. I am only 1.69m or 5'7 (5'69). I am Dutch. My husband is American and stands at 5'9 at 31 years old.

anon84837 May 17, 2010 Serbs are the tallest on average. Just look at the fact how good we are at sports and I'm not talking about Yugoslavian past. basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, football, soccer, serbs are the tallest on average of all the teams out there. all require tall people and since we have so many of them (I'm 193cm in the morning) the possibility is high to get some great sportsmen. that's why a population of currently about 12 million serbs all around the world have such a big influence on these sports. I'm from bijeljina in northern Bosnia where a lot of tall guys walk around. and by the way 50 percent of the "montenegrans" consider themselves serbian and the others are albanians or bosnian. greetings from beautiful rs.

anon84591 May 16, 2010 From NJ, 183cm. This is very short here for natives. Not including people who have emigrated here from central and south america.

anon84513 May 16, 2010 I'm 15 years old and I'm 1.70, so I'm not so tall. But your arguments are true. Because of the health care system and our culture, we are super tall. I'll explain. In the netherlands, the stores are filled with healthy stuff. people cook most of the time a very healthy meal. We have only mcdonalds and a few burger kings, maybe. Not Wendy's, KFC, etc., etc. And it's a part of our culture that you take your bike to go everywhere you want. The average distance a day is for the dutch 5 km. Sorry for the language errors. I'll do better next time.

anon84446 May 15, 2010 I'm 6'4.5 around 1.94 m and 16 years old. I'm supposed to grow another 1.5" or 5 centimeters. I'm quite tall here, most adults are shorter than me. My makeup is dutch/nord.

anon84385 May 15, 2010 People form the Balkans are the tallest. there the average is at least six feet for males.

anon84359 May 15, 2010 6 feet 8 inches; male; 18 years. south korean

anon84351 May 15, 2010 Either the world is midgets, or everyone in this forum is full of crap. I have been to most of these nations you all talk about and i am 6'5 (197cm). And in the balkans i felt a lot taller than most, except a few men, especially in dalmatia. Also along with serbs, there are some tall but also nothing of what most of you are speaking of. children of 15-16 years old being 6'9 common. Shaq wasn't 6'9 at 15. The nordic nations have tall people overall with the normal man being 1.79cm, then like anywhere else you have your extremes anywhere from 6'3 and up is extreme height. So all of you saying that kids in high school being 6'5 not feeling tall is really not true. Be happy with how tall you are, stop worrying how big you are compared to others. Here it seems like everyone is trying to one up, one another. So cut the crap and talk realistically. The world's average height for men is 5'8 (even european nations) most men in europe are 5'10 or less, not these extremes you all speak of. I guess the new basketball players will be 10 feet tall soon. Seems like it from all of your heights. Plus i am from Sweden and feel very tall everywhere i go. Thank you.

anon83948 May 13, 2010 6'3" from the UK and 16 years old. I'm slightly below average in my class. The average is like 6'5".

anon83720 May 12, 2010 Someone made a mistake. The tallest man is Sultan Kosen .He is from Turkey. It's the newest "Guinness world record". And, you know, he hasn't any medical problems also, who was a basketball player. All of the Chinese or the Mongolians are shorter than him. Turkey is taller than china. The tallest group of people are from some tribes in Sudan.

anon83709 May 12, 2010 female, Dane, 6'1 feet, 17 years old.

anon83425 May 11, 2010 Mexican 21, 6'5 and my sister 24 is 6'0 Wow, I did not know how tall people were in Bosnia and Dalmatia. I'm still single, so I just might visit over there.

anon83294 May 10, 2010 Malaysian here .184 cm.

anon83209 May 10, 2010 I'm 16 years old, born in sudan, Africa. Currently living in Melbourne, Australia and I'm 191cm or 6 feet three inches. But i wasn't always this tall. I just started really growing in year eight. I began sleeping more and becoming more lazy, that when i measured my height and i grew 6cm that year. since then i haven't grown as much. Only 1-2cm each year. But i agree that Dutch people are mostly tall.

anon82962 May 8, 2010 I thought the tallest people in the world are the northern Chinese or the Mongolians. The two tallest man in the world are from northern China and the tallest woman in the world is from northern China. In the case of the two men, they were tall without having any medical problems like a pituitary tumor. They were tall naturally.

anon82935 May 8, 2010 Dutch, 6 feet, 17 years-old.

anon82471 May 6, 2010 I never been to the Netherlands to measure people on the street but I can tell you that Yugoslavian people are extremely tall (and probably the tallest). I'm from Romania and at 187 cm I'm a bit over average here but when I visited Serbia and Croatia, I felt like being smaller than the average. People of 2.00m were common and most of the men on the street were over 190 cm. The young generations in Romania are on average somewhere over 180 cm but not more than 185 cm. From my friends, three of them are over 2.00m and three more have 195cm but the rest are shorter than 190 cm.

anon82432 May 5, 2010 I was born in the US, am male, age 40, and am 1.87m. I have often not had good health care or a good income. I have always drunk a lot of milk. I think genetics play a major role, too. My ancestry is German and Polish. My immigrant grandparents were like midgets!

anon82373 May 5, 2010 I'm dutch, female and 16 years old and I'm 5''9. :)

anon82248 May 5, 2010 188 cm from Romania. I'm on the taller average here but don't fall in the tall category though. Over 190 cm is considered tall here.

anon82059 May 4, 2010 I live in the US and Health care is NOT available to all as the cost has become so high that people wait until they are in dire straits before they see a doctor. And even then...no money no service. Health insurance is NOT available to all as there are many ways people are excluded: pre-existing conditions, outrageous deductibles and fees etc. The free health care is available to the extremely poor. Anyone trying to make a living does not qualify. This is not an exaggeration but a simple unfortunate fact.

anon82046 May 4, 2010 Dutch, 18, 192 cm

anon81900 May 3, 2010 I'm from Velika Kladusa, Bosnia in Herzegovina. I'm 6'6 and my dad is 6'2 and his brothers are tall. I'm not sure but all of the bosnian people are tall.

anon81887 May 3, 2010 I'm 18 years old and 178cm tall. From the United Kingdom, but in fact my father is white caucasian, and my mother is Chinese. I feel very slightly shorter than average compared to classmates in university. Even though the average white male height in the UK is 177cm, the younger generation is undoubtedly taller, so I feel the average height for my generation is probably about 180 or 181cm.

anon81035 yesterday LOL, well i guess i agree. I'm a 1.97 meter 15 year old dutch guy. i think that's kind of tall.

anon80428 April 27, 2010 I am from Georgia, Tbilisi and i am 18 years old and 1.60m tall.

anon79881 April 25, 2010 I'm Croatian. Of course, physically, people from croatia, serbia, slovenia etc., a have similar build. However montenegro residents are the tallest and most heavy people. generally people on the dalmatian coast are tall. I know from yankee resources it would say nordic nation as being the tallest.

anon79726 April 24, 2010 Albanian-male-17-176 cm tall(5.9). I'm slightly lower than average for my generation.

anon78773 April 20, 2010 I think serbia has the tallest people. The average height of youngsters in here is above 6'6.

anon78763 April 20, 2010 male, 24 years, 185 cm tall, Romania.

anon78328 April 18, 2010 I'm dutch, male 17 years old and just 5'9". I am the second smallest in my class. But I think the reason of being smaller is because I was born too months early.

anon78319 April 18, 2010 I'm Greek, 36 and 1.78cm Tallest people I've met are ex-Yugoslavs. I would visit Serbian Churches in London and both men and women would tower over me. I was certainly of the shortest and pretty much the same height as the pensioners!

anon78308 April 18, 2010 "I am from Croatia and I am a 31 year old 6'5 female. Nobody in my family is under 6'2. I can honestly tell you that even in ex-Yugoslavia people from Dalmatia and Montenegro were considered tall, extremely tall, very very tall." Correct! The tallest people live in Dalmatia. I'm from Spilt. My neighbor has two sons, one is 6'7, and the other is 6'9. They are just 15-16 years old. I asked them how do they feel in their school. They said that they don't feel tall, just normal. They are not the tallest ones in class, not to mention in the whole school. I've roughly calculated the average height of young teenagers to absolutely be 6'6.5, in Dalmatia.

anon76682 April 11, 2010 I'm from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I'm 16 years old,and I'm 2.03. m. tall.

anon76676 April 11, 2010 I'm from Croatia and I'm 177cm and not even close to being the tallest girl in my class or from the girls I know!

anon76427 April 10, 2010 I'm dutch, 14 years old and 174 cm. I'm not the tallest and certainly not the smallest! And I believe in fact that Dutch people, on average are the tallest people in the world.

anon76395 April 10, 2010 I'm a girl from Norway, I'm 1,91 cm and I love it!

anon74921 April 4, 2010 I'm from romania, blonde 1.98. My best friend blonde, 2.02, 130kg rugby player. The northern gene is OK, makes you tall.

anon74882 April 4, 2010 I'm from Holland, 16 years old and 1.70 meters and like the smallest of my class.

anon74853 April 4, 2010 definitely balkans, no doubt. I am a Serb,and I am 188 cm. Out of my group of close friends (All Serbs from different regions), (eight of us ) I am the second shortest. At 188 cm I feel like I am average height. Especially at Serbian parties or gatherings.

anon74484 April 2, 2010 Dutch, 22 years of age, 1.98m.

anon74435 April 2, 2010 I'm from the netherlands and 1,72M tall. i am one of the smallest people in my class. and don't tell me tall people are necessary stronger. fedor emelianenko is 1,80 and has fought guys that were 2.20 meters he defeats them easily. also we have one guy in our class that is over two meters and he is weak.

anon74358 April 1, 2010 Northern europe got the the tallest people. People from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Dutch and Britain are the tallest. During the Viking age, many people from scandinavia emigrated to netherland and britain.

anon74343 April 1, 2010 This article is titled "Which Country Has the Tallest People." Unless the author is only considering those countries predominantly inhabited by caucasians, then the conclusion that the Dutch are the tallest is incorrect. While they are quite tall, there are - at least - two groups from countries in Africa that would be considered the tallest. They would be the Watusi, who range from 6 feet to 8+ feet tall, and many of the Sudanese. On the continent of Africa, you have the very short, the Pygmy, to the very tall, the Watusi.

anon73927 yesterday I am 50 percent swedish/50 percent Croatian from hercegovina, i recently turned 17 and I'm 1.94 cm. i live in sweden, i think climate and nutrition play a large roll in growth. I was told by my doctor i will be 206 cm tall.

anon73902 yesterday I am from Dinaric Alps. I am 5'11 which is pretty tall for a girl. Being a tall girl has its advantages!

anon73567 March 28, 2010 People form NW Bosnia (Bosanska Krajina) are the tallest, trust me.

anon73307 March 26, 2010 I think that the tallest people are from fiji. There is a small district of ba where we giants come from. I am 7 feet 7 inches tall. The average height is 2.10 meters in ba. Check that place out and you will feel like a baby when you work amongst us.

anon72898 March 24, 2010 i am serbian and am only 5 foot 4, therefore i am considered short. my younger brother (by 3 years) also 5 foot 4. my mom is 5 foot 8 and my dad is 6 foot 5. guess i got the short gene.

anon71392 March 18, 2010 I'm dutch, I'm 14 and I'm 1.83m (6 feet 1/25inches) I'm one of the tallest guys from my class, there is one guy, he is 1.84m. Some people thinks it's crap to be this long. Actually it;s great! people are more nice to you because they don't want to fight. I'm really wide too, (don't know how to say it, from shoulder to shoulder). But being tall is great. You shouldn't mess with tall people.

anon71287 March 18, 2010 sounds about right, I'm dutch and I'm 6 foot 7 or 2 meter 2 cm really though, wasn't that big of a deal there. Ghekkoo

anon71110 March 17, 2010 I am Dutch and I am 6 f5 (195 cm) but that is not considered very tall over here, so I'm lucky!

anon71071 March 17, 2010 the dinaric alps have the tallest people: croatia, bosnia, montenegro and north albania. i'm from albania and albania has the highest dinaric mountains, Jezerce being the tallest peak. It's true about the Dinaric Alps. People are really tall. Some even look like giants in northern Albania my cousins are all above 195 and because their parents suffered they weren't tall but the new generation is growing so tall. way too tall.

anon70687 March 15, 2010 I'm from the north of Mexico, a region in the mountains, here the average is 219cm, and it is because the natives known as apaches were very tall, they fed with wild berries. I'm 6'11 barefoot myself. And there is a town could Dos Castillos where people are like 225cm average.

anon70389 March 14, 2010 I am Dutch, 15 years of age, and 175 cm tall. I am considered very small in The Netherlands. As if I care, I am not finished growing anyway. Oh, I almost forgot to mention: We are not only the tallest people on average, we are also best at speaking foreign languages.

anon70250 March 12, 2010 I feel the group of tallest people are from Dalmatia in Croatia.You can see many teenagers have already been more the 2M. By the way, people who are from Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia are also very tall.

anon70052 March 11, 2010 i am from Lithuania and i am 14 years old and i am 1.83 tall. But i think the Dutch are tallest peoples in the world. I live in a small village and there are lot tall people. My friends 14-15 years old are 1.75-1.85 tall.

Benderson March 9, 2010 I think people from Netherlands are the tallest on earth! I saw a lot of them and they are really tall. I'm 16 years old and 185cm tall. From Hungary

anon69556 March 8, 2010 Excellent! All of male youths from Holland are taller than adults. They are so huge! Even if you are 2 meters tall, you are not considered so tall among teenagers (male)!

anon69100 March 6, 2010 I am Dutch and 2.01m tall. We have cows producing supermilk! Because of all the added hormones to the cows to exploit them to the max! We get those hormones as well while drinking the milk and therefore we grow like trees. Healthy? I don't know. Does it matter? No, the world is going to crap anyway.

anon68399 March 2, 2010 Interesting article. At 6' even I thought I was average height for an American. But, being of Mexican lineage, I know I'm pretty tall for a Mexican.

anon68241 March 1, 2010 I'm a Bangladeshi and I'm 5'11. Some of my cousins are over 6'. Me and almost all my cousins are taller than our parents. I bet the next generation will be even taller.

anon67652 February 25, 2010 I'm 6ft3 / 190cm, and am British, brown hair. But then why should you care how tall I am? When people post their own height info, the self-selection-bias (amongst other biases) for posting on this blog means the 'data' is so 'skewed' that its basically useless from statistical point of view!

anon67461 February 24, 2010 I'm a 6"1" 15y/o. My Dad is 6"6", my uncle 6'4" and my Grandpa 6'3". My mum is 5'8". I'm of mixed British and American heritage with maybe some Dutch heritage. How tall will I be?

anon67455 February 24, 2010 I'm a 6'1" 15y/o Brit currently living in the USA. Back in England I remember loads of guys over 6'. But over in the States the people seem to be smaller, as I'm a few inches taller than a lot of people.

anon67149 February 23, 2010 I'm dutch, 1.95 meters.

anon66475 February 19, 2010 133: I'm a 27 year old Croat and I'm considered tall in the north of Croatia, but I would probably pass for average - at best - in the south (i.e. in Dalmatia). The differences between the populations are huge. In croatia, the youth are very huge,the average height of youth must be around 6'5.'

anon66393 February 19, 2010 I am of nordic descent., i.e. Norwegian and german. There is no small person ever inside my family. On average in my family we are for men 6' 1' feet in height and 5' 8' for the women. We know why we are tall on average. We know why the dutch are also tall on average. We don't even have health care here in the USA. It has nothing to do with it!

anon66347 February 19, 2010 I'm not from Montenegro. But I have many Montenegro friends, most of them are just senior students. They are so tall! I know one of them is 6'6,but he is the shortest one in his class. I saw a lot of people are above 7'(213cm) in Montenegro. The most important thing is the younger are higher than their parents,in some Montenegro high schools, the average height of students must be around 6'8-6'10.

chenonceau February 16, 2010 Greetings! I personally think that black people of central and eastern Africa are the tallest on average. The reason they might not seem like that is due to malnutrition and war conditions which persist today in those parts of the world. I say this because when those same people live in good conditions, such as the upper class in those countries and those who grew up in Europe are usually taller than the other people. They easily average 185-193cm, and are as tall or taller than the Dutch. I know many families of the Luba tribe in Congo who easily average 187 cm, with individuals who are 210-213cm. The Watusi tribe of Rwanda easily surpasses 190cm on average. The other such as Dinka, Nuer of Sudan are naturally quite tall on average. The Maasai, Luo and Somali are very tall, too. The Dutch are tall today only due to better nutrition and better living conditions. If those African nations had the same living conditions, trust me they'd be taller, because for them, it is genetic!

anon65285 February 12, 2010 I'm a 27 year old Croat and I'm considered tall in the north of Croatia, but I would probably pass for average - at best - in the south (i.e. in Dalmatia). The differences between the populations are huge.

anon64488 February 7, 2010 I am Spanish, 21 years old and my height is 1.80 m (5'11) and I am taller than most of my friends, but usually in the street I see people taller than me.

anon64165 February 5, 2010 I'm a fifteen year old girl from holland and I'm between 1.78 and 1.80! that dutch people are on average the tallest is definitely true!

anon64097 February 5, 2010 I'm fahmi 6'10 from libya. my father is 5'5 and my mother is 5'4. i don't know how I became that tall. my younger brother is just 19 and he's 6'11. my older sister is 5'11 but I've told that my grandfather was a very tall man -- about 6'6 -- and my mother's side are reasonably tall, between 6'3 and 5'11.

anon63998 February 4, 2010 I'm from Bangladesh but I think we might have some kind of Persian mixed in us. I think Bangladeshis are really short, not the shortest but one of the short people after Chinese people. The weird thing is that our males are really tall but our females are short. For instance my mother is '5"4 and my father is '6. My maternal grandpa '6"4, my maternal grandma '5. it's strange.

anon63472 February 1, 2010 The tallest people scientifically are people from the Balkans (Dinaric Alps). Montenegro is (almost) 100 percent Dinaric Alps and they are the tallest, but they were part of Serbia before, maybe that explains the confusion. Then come the Dutch, and that's only because Bosnia and Hercegovina is only partly Dinaric Alps. Otherwise Bosnia and Hercegovina would be number two, but are now probably "only" number three.

anon63385 February 1, 2010 I'm 5.9 and I turn 17 this month with the hope of being 5.11.

anon62185 January 25, 2010 I'm of Polish decent. At 150cm, I have stopped growing.

anon62153 January 25, 2010 slavs are definitely the tallest. that place in yugoslavia has the tallest people and czech republic is third.

anon62020 January 24, 2010 Ive been traveling a lot, and this is my conclusion: Europeans are the tallest people. Northern Europe and Ex-Yugoslavia (Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats, Bosnians) especially. May I also add that girls from ex-Yugoslavia are the most beautiful (along with Russian and Ukrainian girls).

anon61599 January 21, 2010 I'm a 1.70 m indonesian girl at the age of 19. I think people in indonesia consider me as a tall girl because the girl's average here is around 1.62 m i guess. But i don't think i'm tall enough and i want to be taller like you all! Please God make me taller!

anon61410 January 20, 2010 I am from Croatia and I am a 31 year old 6'5 female. Nobody in my family is under 6'2. My grandmother is 6'3. We are from a region called Dalmatia which borders Montenegro and is sort of a natural extension of that coastline. I can honestly tell you that even in ex-Yugoslavia people from Dalmatia and Montenegro were considered tall, extremely tall, very very tall. I remember a trip to the US to visit cousins and was the first time I had seen people of the height 5'7, 5'8. Balkans = tall

anon61338 January 19, 2010 I would not say that dutch people are the tallest. but Italians are the shortest. I live in Sicily and most people are probably around 167cm. My family is pretty tall though. My father is 177, my mom is like 181, my oldest brother is only 174 and my other older brother is around the same maybe 174. I'm the lucky one. I'm 188 and still going strong cause i'm only 13. My brothers get annoyed because I'm their little sister and shouldn't be taller than them and my mom likes it because the two girls are taller than the three guys. :) I love being tall.

anon60809 January 16, 2010 Well I have no idea what country has the tallest people. I would say probably China but that's because of a growth hormone problem. I would say for the tallest people without a growth hormone problem, I would say America or Africa. I'm 11 and 5'10. There's a dude I know who's 13 and 6'1. My dad is 6'9. They say I'm supposed to be at least 6'0 feet and I'm a girl so that's not normal!

anon60763 January 15, 2010 I am from Montenegro and I believe that we are the tallest people on the planet. I am 18 and I am 6'4. I am one of the shortest people in my basketball team and an average height anywhere outside. I have travelled quite a bit around Europe and even USA and I can tell you that the average height in all those places in drastically smaller that in my country. In those places I feel pretty tall and in my country opposite. The average height in Montenegro is at least 1.85m.

anon60504 January 14, 2010 Some norwegians are taller than some dutch people! I have proof: I am a norwegian, and I´m 1.87 tall, and my dutch boyfriend is only 1.78. And he´s not a receiver. P.S. I´m a boy!

anon60180 January 12, 2010 I'm 6.2 male (1.88) and I'm from Romania. I am considered pretty tall here. the average here is 1.74.

anon59798 January 10, 2010 i am a turkish girl and i am 1.78 and average is around 1.65 here for girls but i'm happy young ones are really taller so i don't feel like a goat near them:D

anon59797 January 10, 2010 i am a 17 year old girl from ireland... i am 171 cm which is about 5'7. now that is not nearly as tall as all you other people but i feel so tall. all my friends stand about 5'1-5'5 i looks down over them all. in ireland the average male is about my height so i can't wear high heels. i love tall men. over the 6ft mark is a thumbs up definitely. for example alex skarsgard. he's 6'4. lovely

anon59431 January 8, 2010 I am 7'2" and live in the UK and am considering moving to Holland with the intention of finding me a tall man.

anon58820 January 4, 2010 I'm from Mexico and most of people are about 1.70m and women are about 1.60m but at the north of the country people are taller like 1.80 men and 1.70 women. I'm 1.87 and sometimes feel uncomfortable in public transportation because it is designed for short people.

anon58393 January 1, 2010 I'm a 17 year-old Dutch girl and I'm 5'8'(1.76 m), and I'm one of the shortest among my (girl)friends. Some of them are 6' (1.84m). Walking in a foreign country really makes me feel tall. In places like France and the UK I feel abnormally large, and I'm not even that tall!

anon58312 December 31, 2009 hi, i'm from Iran and 6"1'(183). my father is 6"2',and my grandpa is 6"3',and just 1 of my uncles is taller than my grandpa 6"7'. this is really like a joke but it's true and had been happened for my friends and many of them are shorter than their fathers, but actually i feel mid-height in my country. i see some real tall people more than +6"5' but many are middle like me.

anon58259 8 hours ago I'm a 16 years old girl from the Netherlands and I am 5'7" which is totally normal over here. My best friend forever is taller than I am, and most of my girls are about the same height as me, although my mother is 2 inches shorter than I am and my nana's around 4 inches shorter than me.

anon57698 December 26, 2009 I'm from dongbei in northern china I'm 6'5.5 and pretty average in my high school, the shortest guy in my class is 6'1.5 and the tallest 6'10, the average height of youths here must be around 6'4-6'5.

anon57284 December 21, 2009 At age 16 I was 6'4. By age 18 I was 6'6. Being a bodybuilder, it took me 10 years of heavy lifting and huge amounts of food to add muscle mass to my frame. But I did it. My nephew came to live with me at age 24. He started bodybuilding with me and was 6'3 when we started. Eighteen months later he was 6'5. I wonder if there is a relationship between his late growth spurt and lifting weights?

anon57208 December 21, 2009 I'm an English/Irish guy, 5'8" tall (1.73) and the average height of English men is 5'9", so I am shorter than average here. But I am average height of people in France, Portugal, Southern Italy and Argentina. When I am in Southern Europe I feel like I blend in but when I went to The Netherlands on a college trip for the first time, I was surprised how tall everybody was. I went a club and even the women were towering over me haha, but I think they are all very good looking too. I wasn't expecting the Dutch people to be so much taller than the English people because geographically the lands are very close. I think the Dutch people are of a Nordic race and British people are Celtic. The Dutch people tend to have fairer hair but warmer skin tones and the British/Irish people have slightly darker hair but paler skin tones. But I look like I'm from Southern Europe, as I think I may have ancestors from there and so I thought it was interesting that my height reflects the average height of those countries. I think that the height is related to genetics and race. I always thought that the further north in Europe you went the taller people became and the further south the shorter people became -- but I'm not sure now. :-)

anon56589 December 15, 2009 I am not proud of being tall; it's just something I am. I didn't like living in the UK, because I seemed to scare some men when walking down the street. Their eyes would go down to my feet and up to my head again (no, I am not considered ugly). Problem is, I now live in the US and pants are always short. Never had this problem in my country of origin.

anon56379 December 14, 2009 i'm a 22 year old lad from india with the height of 6ft 9 inches. Glad to hear about the dutch -- tall lads.

anon55645 December 8, 2009 I emigrated to Canada from the Netherlands. I am 16 years old and i'm 6'5" (194cm) and still growing.

anon54914 December 3, 2009 i'm very tall(1.75m) and i don't love my body. what's your opinion?

anon54289 yesterday i am dutch but very short, ( very) i am only 155cm. but i am a twin and twins tend to be shorter than the average man. also i never lived there. my parents are tall though. so i did not inherit it from them.

anon53721 November 24, 2009 I agree with this person from montenegro above. we are pretty tall people. i'm not that tall, just 5'8'', but when i'm around my friends they are all 6 feet and more, but when i was in some other countries in europe i felt so tall, especially around spanish people who average 5'7''. that is why i like spanish boys. LOL. Are you a girl? I heard of that a lot of Montenegro girls are above 185cm. really? I believe Montenegro girls are so tall and hot.

anon53470 November 21, 2009 guys. what is our real height? in the morning after woke up or in the evening height? i am 190.7 after wake up and i am 189cm after 10 hours awake

anon52875 November 17, 2009 this is retarded. everyone stop posting your height, we understand that there are tall people of every race. all this article is saying is that the country with the tallest people on average is the Netherlands. No further speculation is needed.

anon52704 November 16, 2009 i'm a nigerian and i am 6ft.0in tall and i'm considered a giant. nice to know there are tall people like me out there. By the way, can anyone mention something about the arabians?

anon52294 November 12, 2009 Hello friends in Montenegro and the Balkan region. I am a 165 cm high male American. I have travelled many times through the Balkan area and every country, in ex-Yugoslavia, and Croatia seven times. I am most definitely sure this area has the tallest population of men and women in Europe.

anon51902 November 10, 2009 i am from holland. i am 17 years old and i am 2.07 meters, that is 6'9.5" and still growing.

anon51404 November 5, 2009 People from ex Yugoslavia, especially from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and even Slovenia are mostly tall and hold over 1.80. A lot of sportsmen from the whole balkan area are known for being tall and strong. Even in countries like Russia, Ukraine, ex Czechoslovakia etc., you can find a lot of tall people.

anon51136 November 3, 2009 A few years ago a friend of mine from The Netherlands visited me in New Jersey - he is about 6'7" - we were in NYC one day and standing across the street from Madison Square Garden (Pro-basketball games are played there) when a black man approached us and asked my buddy, "Did you play ball last night?" :)

anon50798 November 1, 2009 Good God. I'm 4'11".

anon50610 yesterday I am Chinese male at 177cm and I am 23 years old, so I don't think I will grow any taller. Strange thing is that my dad is 168 cm and my mom is 164 cm yet I ended up 177. I guess my diet is really good and I also exercise a lot. The younger generation Chinese are getting so much bigger -- these too mainly due to better diet and exercise. But I feel kind of short compared to the Dutch where they are at 185cm. That is OK, I live in the USA and the average height is 177cm, and girls are only 164cm. So it is not a problem for me. However, if I ever want a Dutch girlfriend, I will have to gain some extra confidence. lol

anon49136 October 17, 2009 Montenegrins are the tallest, there's nobody even close. I'm 5'8" and when I'm in Montenegro, I'm practically eye level with belly buttons... I believe their average height is like 6'5" or better.

anon48326 October 12, 2009 Is this counting only tallest men or people (including creatures called women)?

anon48038 October 9, 2009 Lucky dutch. Jokes aside I'm an Australian that has holidayed in the Netherlands twice and there honestly could not be a bunch of friendlier, intelligent and down to earth people. Live long and prosper, Netherlands!

anon47431 October 5, 2009 My dad is Dutch, mother not. I'm 17 and 6'3'', tallest van A. ever! Lol.

anon47026 September 30, 2009 Well, I'm glad I'm dutch. lol. My dad's 6'4" and my uncles are like 6'5" and 6'6". Last year, I was 14 I was about 5'6", now i'm 15 and almost 16 and i'm 6", almost 6'1"!

anon46982 3 hours ago I'm a Dutch (male) student of 16 years old, and i'm 1.90 meters tall. It is true that we're on average the tallest country in the world. Being 1.90 meters is just normal for a boy of my age in Holland. Many friends of mine are even taller, only a few are shorter.

anon46829 yesterday the tallest nation in the world is sudan. They are 6.3 on average so the tallest race in the world is black.

anon46722 September 28, 2009 Cool, cool. well i'm mexican, born in California and the tallest person in my family is 6'6 or 6'7 and i'm the second tallest at 6'2 or 6'1. at age 16 i'm still hoping to grow. i want to be 6'4 or a little past that. im a little over average at school with white guys. i can see over most kids that are 6'0 or 5'11.

anon46490 September 26, 2009 I'm from Gacko, in Bosnia & Herzegovina and from the Herzegovina region. Most men in Herzegovina are at least 1.80 meters. My dad and brother are the shortest people in our family and they're 1.80m. All of my male cousins are 1.90 m - 1.98m. Anyway, I think it's more diet than genetics.

anon46356 September 24, 2009 Hey is there some other group were missing here? There are a couple of kids in my school i know (bout 4 or 5) out of the 1000 or so there that are massively tall, (ie. 6"4' 14 year olds, 6"8' 18 year olds) who all follow the same basic pattern of small feet, black hair and quite pale skin. i know a few personally and they're not related to each other. none of the kids in my school who look like them are below 6"2', even the very young kids, 14-13. Who are they? why are they like this?

anon46171 September 23, 2009 There are sources and references to the studies indicating that the tallest people do come from the Dinaric Alps. But, that is not a country, and I think there lies the misunderstanding among you all. The Dutch are the tallest as a nation from *one* country, but the people from the Dinarides, which is simply a region spreading over five different countries, certainly are the tallest in Europe. They contribute to the height average of their respective countries. I'm a 22-year-old who lives in Serbia and whose father was born in a village in Bosnian Dinarides. My height is 6'2.something" (188 cm) and I've seen with my own eyes that people are really tall over there. I thought when I was younger that maybe it was because of lower gravity and higher ground. :))) Oh, and one more thing off-topic. I read a comment where someone wrote that what matters is inside not the outside or something like that. Well, I'd agree on that in general conversation, but here we're discussing height, so please, lose the morality or simply don't post.

anon46113 September 22, 2009 I'm mexican and I'm 6'7.5'', 2.02 meters and I'm 16 years old. My height was 2.02 meters when I was 14, and my doctor told me that I had stopped growing. I have three cousins taller than me, and my sisters and some males in my family are above 1.80. Here in Mexico I'm so tall, but when I go to the USA for vacation sometimes I see people as tall or taller than me. Now I live in pachuca hidalgo in a city at the center of the country, but my parents are from los altos de jalisco. in my parents' city there are some people taller than me because that zone was poblated by french, spanish and british people. In Mexico the average from the mens is 1.62 and for the woman is 1.52, jajajaja here in Mexico all the people is so small, ja i feel so good of be tall, I'm proud, my wife will be tall, but now I'm dating with a pretty mexican girl 1.86, she is so beautiful and obvious her parents are not from Mexico, they are from france.

anon45588 September 18, 2009 The worlds tallest man is Turkish. Sultan Kosen is his name.

anon44304 September 6, 2009 i'm 18 and 6'5 or about 1.96 meters in german, italian, and irish i'm still growing. in the last 4 months i have grown about one inch. i'm the same height as my dad and my uncles are both a couple inches taller, but my mom is only 5'4, or 1.6 meters, and my sister is just barely 5'1, or 1'5 meters. i'm from detroit michigan in the u.s. and other than my dad we are basically taller than anybody in the area. my grandparents live in germany and i visited them last summer. for the first time i felt almost normal height, but we don't have free health care. if you don't have insurance you don't get help. when i was 13 i broke my wrist. i needed surgery and they denied me. my wrist is still messed up.

anon43929 September 3, 2009 Go to the city of Split in Croatia. Research shows that one out of 50 is taller than 2.00 meters at the age of 18 (in france, it is one of 5000). I live in Zagreb, Croatia, but my origins are from Dinaric Alps. In my family, i'm the one of the shortest and i am 1.93 meters tall and weigh 120 kilograms with almost no fat. When I go out in Zagreb, in the club i see people around me. When I do same thing in Split, i have a feeling that there is a wall of people around me. I work in an insurance company. Five of us in my department are from dinaric alps and nobody is under 192 centimeters and 110 kilograms. I don't have to say that I don't feel tall, because nearby are Hercegovina, Monte negro, parts of Serbia, Slovenia.

anon43595 18 hours ago I found that article interesting, my dad's six feet tall and i'm 6'3" tall. I do notice that when I go out places here in canada, people here are on average between 5'7" and 6 feet tall. I can thank my grandparents from the Netherlands for being tall.

anon43544 yesterday According to a recent study, male adolescents in the Dinaric Alps (mountain range in Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina etc.) are on average 1 cm taller than dutch adolescents, with the females coming close to dutch females.

anon43368 August 28, 2009 Im 6.5in (1.96m) from Slovakia and in my country are really many people who are between 6.2-6.4in.

anon42571 August 22, 2009 I am a tall, 175 cm, blonde South African woman living in South Korea. I feel really tall here. It got me wondering who the tallest people in the world are and I found the article really interesting!

anon42445 August 21, 2009 I love how so many people boast about being tall and pretend to be so modest about it. It's what's on the inside that counts, not on the outside.

anon42326 August 20, 2009 I live in California and am 6' 4" tall (193cm). When I lived in Iowa I didn't feel usual - there a lots of people of Northern European ancestry there (German, Swedish, Norwegian). In California I sometimes feel like a giant. There are so many people of Mexican and Asian background in my city and they are almost always much shorter.

anon41657 August 16, 2009 My father is a Korean man, born in Corsica but living in Brazil. My mother is Norwegian, born in Italy, who met my father in Paraguay where I was born. I grew up in Switzerland and Montana, but now live in Tanzania. My father is 5'7", and my mother is 5'11", but I am 6'2". My younger sister Karma, who lives in New Zealand is 6'0" and 18 years old!

anon41581 August 16, 2009 Pretty interesting. Me and my dad are Americans with dutch ancestry. He is 6'4 and I'm 6'1. My grandfather was really tall also.

anon40766 August 10, 2009 16 in 1 month and just over 6'1, (1.86m) :)

anon39896 August 5, 2009 My whole family is from the Netherlands, and all of my uncles are easily 6'4". my dad being 6'4", the shortest of his four brothers. I'm 15 y/o and 6'0". Last year I was about 5'6", but I've had a crazy growth spurt.

anon39757 August 4, 2009 I have a dutch passport but both my parents are chinese. My dad is 176cm and my mom's like 170. i live in budapest and currently in china. i turned 16 about two months ago. i measured 177.5cm a month ago, now i measure 179cm at my gym. In southern china the average guys are like 173. :P i look big and healthy. but where my grandma lives in northern part is around 176 but near siberia, people are easy 180+. sounds boring but just sharing it. my cousin is a huge chinese btw. he is 185 at the age of 14 only.

anon39576 August 3, 2009 This makes me feel unbelievably short. I'm about 1.47 m. Sigh.

anon39133 yesterday An American here! 204.75 cm tall, just a hair under 6'9".

anon38220 July 24, 2009 Hello, i'm 1.90 m. Dutch man i have four really good friends and they are taller then me. I'm not small in Holland but really not considered being tall. Being called tall here in Holland starts around 1.95 m. I travelled all over the world, and everywhere i felt tall walking over streets looking over hats/heads. that starts already in Germany and Belgium our neighbours.

anon36788 July 14, 2009 I am doing research on the tallest people in the world. I am a black american women 6'2 and a five year old that is 4'3, it is really nice to hear the statistics in other countries.

anon36721 July 14, 2009 Another dutchman here. I'm also forced to agree with this article. I've just turned 17 about a month ago, and I'm 1.90 metres now, and still growing. Also, my uncle and cousin are just over 2 metres and a friend of mine even reaches the 2.10

anon35468 July 5, 2009 I agree with this person from montenegro above. we are pretty tall people,i m not that tall, just 5'8'',when i m around my friends they are all 6 feet and more,but when i was in some other countries in europe i felt so tall:-)especially around spanish people who are average 5'7''.that is why i like spanish boys:-)LOL

anon33964 June 15, 2009 Hello. I am Bosnian and I am really tall. I am 9 and I am over 7 feet tall. I have big feet and I can't walk properly. Thanks for reading.

anon33564 June 8, 2009 hi im montenegrin and im 184cm and just turned 14. i am bigger than all my classmates and i have 7 dutch boys in my class.

anon32331 May 20, 2009 Hello! I am an Ecuadorian and in my country I am tall (178 cm). I am living now in Wageningen, Netherlands, and I can appreciate the statistics presented: Here I feel small among the lofty Dutch people! It's true, however, that now many Netherland nationals are not the "typical" Dutch. Also, in Ecuador there are many Dutch people, some that have been there for decades, and almost all of them are famous for being really tall. Does biking have something to do with this? I have never met someone from Montenegro or a Maasai, but Danes are also tall, though I perceive that Dutch people are taller, while the (few) Albanese people I know are smaller. But for me the bottom line is that all of this does not matter at all, except as a nice theme of conversation and to appreciate one more element of the wonderful diversity of our planet!

anon31575 May 7, 2009 I'm Dutch, but born and raised in Texas and my dad was 6'3 and I'm 6'2 (21 y/o). I heard when I was about 16 that the Dutch were the tallest nation. I believe it.

anon30853 April 25, 2009 That's not true that Dutch are the tallest nation on earth! Some of the tallest people are from Dinaric Alps (especially from Herzegovina and Montenegro). Average male height is 186 cm (17yo boys measured), while Dutch are 184cm and males from 20-30yo were measured. Considering that people can grow till 20yo, Herzegovians and Montenegrians are *the tallest, for sure*. I was 184cm at age 13, now I'm 19yo and my height is unfortunately only 1 cm higher.

anon30831 April 25, 2009 I am a 16 year old Englishman and 6'2 1/2. Even though this is well above average height in the United Kingdom, I feel quite short in comparison to others in my year group. One lad is about 6'5" but the year group below me seems to have even taller people. I was one of the tallest at primary school and now I am probably in between.

anon30709 April 23, 2009 I'm dutch and 13 years old and I'm 5.6 feet/172 cm tall. I am still growing. It is true that that we are on average the tallest.

anon30440 April 19, 2009 I'm also Dutch. And I am standing high and proud with my 6'4 (1.95m).

anon29601 April 5, 2009 You must also consider the fact that currently there are a lot of immigrants in the Netherlands, who drag the average down. Montenegro has mostly a homogeneous population.

anon29487 April 2, 2009 Well one of the reasons why Dutch are taller on average is because of the population considered and the ethnic groups forming the studies. US male population considered in this study is a lot larger than any European group. Second most important aspect are the ethnic groups which consist of many Europeans, Asians and middle eastern people who immigrated into US bringing the national average down. Over all there are many factors considered in statistics and FYI half the stats you hear on your TV are just inaccurate by statistical calculations and formulas.

abarth695 April 1, 2009 It's all about genes and diet. I am 5'10" and I have a son who is 13 and is almost as tall as me. The doctors said he will be between 6'2" and 6'4" when he is done growing. I have tall people in my family but they are cousins. 6'2"-6'6". The Dutch are the tallest as a whole nation. Sure there are taller individuals but on "average" they are the tallest nation as a whole. It might change in time. It depends on the diet and genes of the families tested. We are not short at 5'10" as American men on average. But there are some tall guys here too!

anon28875 March 23, 2009 I'm sure the Dutch must be the tallest in the world because the Netherlands is so flat. They all stand up very straight and stretch their backs tall to try and get a better view.

anon27055 February 23, 2009 Well I'm Dutch, but I'm not tall at all xD I'm only 1.60 or something.. Tho I'm a 15 year old girl, so maybe that's not too weird.. Still I'm one of the shortest of my school.

anon26454 February 13, 2009 Ive been in Holland, people were tall, no1 the average is that high though, it's just too much. About me: I'm Albanian, well Northern Albanian(we are taller than the other part) I'm 17, 1.91m tall and most northern Albanians(males) are taller than 1.80. Well for the new generation, is very common for males to be over 1.80 through-out all the country. Don't expect 30+ years old Albanians to be huge as they've suffered malnutrition and stuff like that during communism.

anon26066 February 7, 2009 I am from Denmark and was always being put in the front row in pictures and had to wear high heels to make up for my height. Now I live in Texas and am taller than most the guys here. All the people I know from Holland are pretty tall, so this doesn't surprise me.

anon25622 February 1, 2009 I've been to the Netherlands before, but really: The average height is not 6'1'', impossible. I don't believe these statistics.

anon24927 January 20, 2009 My mother came over to Canada from Holland post WWII. She was 5' 9" in the '50's so very tall. Not sure why there is such concern about whether the study refers to the tallest women or the tallest men. I am a female (and a feminist) and was not offended. I would like to think that we have all moved past those sorts of concerns.... ;-)

androz1990 December 16, 2008 Remember that just because you're tall, doesn't mean you could do it all. I heard some european girls who like gymnastics but they couldn't perform the more difficult maneuvers because they were too lengthy. Most tall people have a difficult time in doing jobs that require a lot of bending. The real thing that defines a person is its heart.

Tiggy November 17, 2008 So poverty is a lifestyle choice?

anon18703 September 28, 2008 For starters Dutch are the tallest in world in BOTH gender groups and sine the survey studied the average overall, the Dutch came up on top. I'm Dutch/German, 178cm and when I went to Amsterdam last week I felt so SHORT! As someone else mentioned, quite a few of the people there were nearing 7". My cousin Deliana and I drove to Germany..My gosh don't get me started on Germans...They're well over 7".

anon18386 September 22, 2008 Dear sexist, you would measure men, or the average of both men and women not the shortest sex for the shortest people.

simonr September 2, 2008 after visiting Amsterdam i can attest to the height of the dutch. when the hotel owner in his 30s stood up to register us i had to look up at him. He was 6 foot 9 and said there were many men similar to him there! This guys son who was 12 years old was already 6 foot 1. I am a 5 foot 7 inch tall american and felt very small there.

anon16726 August 13, 2008 I'm also a girl from Holland, 1.80 tall. I was 1.72 or so at age 12, stopped growing at age 13. (ha.) It's really true that compared to other countries, the Dutch are much taller. When I'm in a foreign country, I feel like I'm a giant while in Holland I'm quite OK.

anon15423 July 11, 2008 I´m a 6´6 spaniard. In my country there has been an incredible improvement too. However we are far from dutch people in terms of average but we are world champions in basketball! VIVA ESPAÑA!

anon13395 May 26, 2008 Actually since Montenegro became independent they are now statistically the tallest nation.

anon11184 April 10, 2008 re: The country with the tallest people on average - I am sure it used to be Netherlands, but I doubt be willing to bet that it is only in the 2nd place since Montenegro became an independent state. Contrary to what someone above said, the people from the Dinaric Alps (Montenegro, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Lika, parts of Albania...) do not make up the majority of the population Croatia, Bosnia, and certainly not Serbia or Kosovo, but definitely make up the absolute majority of the tiny republic of Montenegro, and yes, it is very well known that Montenegrans are exceptionally tall.

anon10320 March 25, 2008 I'm still confused on why they need to make door frames larger. What is the average ceiling height in the Netherlands? Is it not 8 feet (2.4m) like in most European and North American countries? I'm 6'2", and have no trouble fitting through door frames. With 8 foot ceilings most door frames should be well over seven feet tall. In metric terms they should on average be over 2 meters tall. I understand that there can be people taller, since this is only an average, but I would be hard pressed to believe there is huge number of Dutch people nearing 7' tall.

anon10289 March 24, 2008 Hi, I'm a 20 year old woman from Holland. And yes I am tall considering the average heights in other countries. All right, even in Holland I'm seen as a tall girl, but I'm not enormous, there are enough girls almost my height or taller. Yes, I am 1.80m. (For the record, I was 1.75m when I was 12 when my classmates were only about 1.45m on average) But well, it looks like the Dutch industry hasn't quite got to the point were they understand that Dutch people are taller. Or they do but they think we still have size 30 in waist even though we're a lot taller. So please be happy if your smaller....

anon10178 March 21, 2008 Anon4898 -- this isn't really true at all, the dutch are still the tallest in the world on average. and if they were (which they aren't) it would be all over on google if you type 'tallest people in the world'

anon7074 January 17, 2008 yeah, I too have heard (somewhere on the internet as well as met individuals) that the tallest people are the dinaric alps people starting from northern albania going up north to montenegro, bosnia, croatia, perhaps serbs+kosovans too.

anon6845 January 10, 2008 [quote]Actually this is not true. The tallest people scientifically are people from the Balkans - independent studies of boys & girls at 17 years of age in the Dinaric Alps (Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro) region of the Balkans determined that average height of boys is 6'1.1". The Dutch had the 2nd tallest averages.[/quote] Ehm... source, please....

anon6520 January 1, 2008 Dear feminists: Men are taller than women. This is a fact of nature. This article is about the TALLEST people. Therefore they measured the MEN. If you want to do an article on the SHORTEST people you would measure the SHORTEST people in each subset. Get it?

olittlewood December 8, 2007 well, yes it is a bit annoying that the study referenced was only on men, but that may have been the only study available to the writer at the time. also, you can probably assume that the country with the tallest men probably have the tallest women too, so the basic question of which country has the tallest people is answered--unless there's a secret country of amazon women out there that no one has discovered yet!

anon5856 December 8, 2007 I too was amazed and disgusted that this article apparently takes MEN to be the prototype human being/"average adult". Women account for 50% of the population, and yet are treated like some kind of subspecies of the male, who is the "real" human being and apparently can stand in for "all adults". Can you imagine if the situation were reversed, and the article took the average woman's height in each country and labeled it as "the average height for all adults" without bothering to mention it was for women only? That would NEVER happen. Never. “Representation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with the absolute truth.” -- Simone de Beauvoir

anon4898 November 5, 2007 Actually this is not true. The tallest people scientifically are people from the Balkans - independent studies of boys & girls at 17 years of age in the Dinaric Alps (Dalmatia, Herzegovina, Montenegro) region of the Balkans determined that average height of boys is 6'1.1". The Dutch had the 2nd tallest averages.

anon4665 October 27, 2007 It's really amazing to me that this article consistently refers to "average height" or "average height for all adults" when the figures given are obviously for men only. Think about it. The average American (or Dutch)woman is significantly shorter than the figures listed.

anon4340 October 14, 2007 I would like to clarify something to this person and his comments in U.S.A Health care.Please! Please! read and inform yourself more. I am a doctor and I deal myself every day in a County hospital here in USA in how to referrer patients to specialist who WON'T !!!!see a patient if he does not have insurance or money to pay specially if it is a "Relative" emergency things that are not,now,but could potentially become DEATH later.Please!!! Learn before saying our system is a "FREE CHOICE" and that every body have access to it this far from being real.

anon3629 September 9, 2007 Finally something that makes us different, or puts us in the spotlight. We're only with 16 million, and most people in the world wouldn't even know where our country exactly lies. Greetings, a Dutchman (1.90 meter)

anon3003 August 5, 2007 You're both right and wrong. The first post is right in that the government provides FREE medical care to the indigent. But, you must have transportation or the money to provide it to get to the free clinic or hospital. Dallas, TX is a great example. Parkland Hospital has surgeons of all kinds on call 24/7. Most accident victims are transported to Parkland when it is possible. However, not all of them have medical insurance. It doesn't matter. Parkland treats all patients as if they are fully insured. That is why Parkland loses money every year. They cannot collect for the services they provide in about 75% of the treatments.

anon2306 July 6, 2007 Actually, healthcare isn't available to everyone in the US. There may be clinics and government programs to assist a few, but by and large if you don't have the money to pay the doctor, you don't have a doctor. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "free choice," but the truth is that many people can't choose for healthcare. I recently read about a young boy who died because his family didn't have money for a dentist; the infection in his tooth spread to his brain and he died. I don't know of any choice that he or his mother could have made that would have prevented that. It's true that healthcare isn't imposed on us, but at the same time, it's not available to everyone, and that shows up in our national health statistics.

anon2176 July 1, 2007 Healthcare IS available in the United States for everyone. It is a "free choice" and you can change your life style to "include or exclude" healthcare and it is NOT imposed on you by "big government" and it is not because of a "lack of health care" as stated in this article! Please put a Note in this article to clarify this very important point!

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