François Hollande will step into Nicolas Sarkozy's shoes today when he is sworn in at the Elysée palace, becoming France's first socialist leader in nearly 20 years. But how does he compare to the past leaders in terms of height?

Last year we were told stature really does matter according to a scientific paper published in Social Science Quarterly.

It was an opportunity too good to pass up so we compared the heights of various leaders from different countries and eras. Now we have a new leader in the pack we're asking once again how tall really are our leaders? We've also compared them to the average height of statesmen of their country over the last 40 years.

At 5ft 7ins, Hollande is two inches taller than Sarkozy but also two inches shorter than the average height for French leaders of the past 40 years. Both David Cameron and Barack Obama beat the average height, standing tall at 6ft 1. As the first female Chancellor of Germany, it's not suprising that Angela Merkel stands 5 inches shorter than the average height for German leaders.

In the scientific paper published last year psychologists from Texas Tech University found in a study that almost two-thirds of participants showed a preference to draw larger figures when asked to draw images of leaders. An evolutionary throwback has been suggested as the root of this. Nic Fleming wrote:

It is not for nothing that top politicians are known as political giants or "big beasts". Voters see tall politicians as better suited for leadership, according to a survey of how people visualise their leaders. Psychologists believe the bias may stem from an evolved preference for physically imposing chiefs who could dominate enemies.

Cameron, Obama and Hollande have all beaten shorter candidates in past elections – Gordon Brown at 5ft 11ins, John McCain at 5ft 8ins and Sarkozy at 5ft 5ins.

The work, published by Dr Gregg Murray and J. David Schmitz, found evidence that would suggest physical stature affects people's preferences for political leadership. The paper entitled 'Caveman Politics' on evolutionary psychology relates it back to ideas and beliefs gleaned from our prehistoric ancestors.

Well, apart from Cameron, Obama and Canada's Stephen Harper who all come in at over six foot there are some current political leaders who are rather more diminutive. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is placed at somewhere around the 5ft 2ins mark.

America certainly seem to be following the rule with all but one of the US presidents in our list coming in at six foot or over. The UK have rather a mixed bag from Margaret Thatcher (5ft 5ins) and Winston Churchill (5ft 6ins) to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil who is believed to have been 6ft 4ins.

The table below shows a selection of world leaders, past and present, and their stature. Those in bold are current leaders.

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• This article was amended on 7 February 2014 to remove a duplication of François Hollande in the table and spreadsheet which incorrectly named him as a German leader as well as the current President of France.

Data summary

Heights of leaders - past and present Click heading to sort table. Download this data Name Height, Cm Height, Feet and inches (rounded to nearest) Country (leader of ) Abdelaziz Bouteflika 159 5'2 Algeria Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner 164 5'4 Argentina Julia Eileen Gillard 166 5'5 Australia Stephen Harper 188 6'2 Canada Fidel Castro 190 6'3 Cuba Tarja Halonen 172 5'8 Finland François Hollande 170 5'7 France Nicolas Sarkozy 165 5'5 France Napoleon 168 5'6 France Jacques Chirac 189 6'2 France François Mitterrand 172 5'7 France Valéry Giscard d’Estaing 189 6'2 France Georges Pompidou 181 5'11 France Charles de Gaulle 196 6'5 France Angela Merkel 165 5'5 Germany Gerhard Schröder 174 5'8 Germany Helmut Kohl 193 6'4 Germany Adolf Hitler 173 5'8 Germany Viktor Orban 174 5'8 Hungary Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 157 5'2 Iran Saddam Hussein 188 6'2 Iraq David Ben Gurion 152 5'0 Israel Silvio Berlusconi 165 5'5 Italy Benito Mussolini 169 5'6 Italy Yasuo Fukuda 169 5'6 Japan Kim Yong Ill 160 5'3 Korea (North) Muammar Gaddafi 183 6'0 Libya Benito Juarez 137 4'6 Mexico Josef Stalin 165 5'5 Russia Dmitry Medvedev 163 5'4 Russia Vladimir Putin 170 5'7 Russia Boris Yeltsin 187 6'1 Russia Vladimir Lenin 165 5'5 Russia Tony Blair 183 6'0 UK David Cameron 185 6'1 UK Winston Churchill 168 5'6 UK Gordon Brown 180 5'11 UK Nick Clegg 185 6'1 UK Margaret Thatcher 165 5'5 UK Robert Gascoyne-Cecil 193 6'4 UK Sir Alec Douglas-Home 185 6'1 UK James Callaghan 185 6'1 UK Edward Heath 183 6'0 UK John Major 180 5'11 UK Queen Elizabeth II 163 5'4 UK Harold Wilson 173 5'8 UK George W. Bush 182 5'11 USA Barack Obama 185 6'1 USA John F Kennedy 183 6'0 USA George Washington 187 6'2 USA Abraham Lincoln 193 6'4 USA Ronald Reagan 185 6'1 USA Bill Clinton 184 6'2 USA George H.W Bush 188 6'2 USA Gerald Ford 183 6'0 USA Richard Nixon 182 5'11 USA Hugo Chávez 173 5'8 Venezuela

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

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