Ever wondered which nationalities are the tallest? Perhaps not. But we're going to tell you anyway.

The map below shows 101 nations colour coded according to the average height of its male residents (no reliable data is available for those countries that appear in grey). It will surprise no-one to see The Netherlands near the top of the table – the Dutch are well known for their lofty stature. But it is pipped to the top spot by Bosnia and Herzegovina, by a mere tenth of a milimetre. Specifically, it is the men of the Dinaric Alps, a mountain range in the Balkan country, that are on record as being the tallest in the world: 185.6 cm, or 6 ft 1.1 inches, on average.

Other countries among the 10 tallest include Denmark, Norway, Germany and Croatia. Britain, whose men are 1.77m, on average, comes in at 27th.

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The world's 15 tallest countries

Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1.839m Netherlands - 1.838m Montenegro - 1.832m Denmark - 1.826m Norway - 1.824m Serbia - 1.82m Germany - 1.81m Iceland - 1.81m Croatia - 1.805m Czech Republic - 1.803m Slovenia - 1.803m Luxembourg - 1.799m Slovakia - 1.794m Austria - 1.792m Estonia - 1.791m

The website averageheight.co, which collects data from a variety of sources (and whose statistics we used for our map), does not have statistics for much of sub-Saharan Africa. However, the Nilotic peoples that live in regions near the Nile Valley, the African Great Lakes, and southwestern Ethiopia, are also considered among the tallest people on Earth. A 1963 study of Sudanese Nilotes found average male height to be 182.6cm.

An Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, Global Well-being since 1820, notes that from the 1870s until the 1940s, sub-Saharan Africans were two centimetres taller than the world average. The rest of the world caught up in the 1960s, however, and now sub-Saharan Africans are 1.4cm below the global mean.

At the other end of the scale, the shortest countries are mostly in Asia and South America.

The world's 15 shortest countries

Indonesia - 1.58m Bolivia - 1.6m Philippines - 1.619m Vietnam - 1.621m Cambodia - 1.625m Nepal - 1.63m Ecuador - 1.635m Sri Lanka - 1.636m Nigeria - 1.638m Peru - 1.64m India - 1.647m Panama - 1.65m Bahrain - 1.651m Iraq - 1.654m North Korea - 1.656m

When it comes to women, averageheight.co does not show data for Bosnia and Herzegovina – so the Netherlands takes the top spot. Beyond that, the picture is much the same, with northern Europe dominating and the UK in 32nd.

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Why are the Dutch so tall?

Ben Coates, writing for Telegraph Travel last year, explained: "As the Dutch population grew in the 17th and 18th centuries, the grass which carpeted the polders turned out to make perfect food for cattle. The Friesian breed, in particular, became a Dutch icon.

"Much milk was drunk, and some was turned into cheeses, which were often named after the towns where they were traded, such as Gouda and Edam. As dairy output grew, its consumption also had a curious side effect: it made the Netherlands a nation of giants.

"Studies show that in the mid-1800s, the average Dutchman was about 5ft 4in tall; shorter than most Europeans and Americans.

"Over the next 150 years, however, as dairy consumption rose, the Dutch soared past everyone else."

It's not just a matter of nutrition, however. A 2014 study found that natural selection has played a part too. For example, the most fertile Dutch men were found to be seven centimetres above the average height.

"Natural selection in addition to good environmental conditions may help explain why the Dutch are so tall," the study concluded. "Height is very heritable – taller parents tend to have somewhat taller children than shorter parents. Because taller individuals would have more offspring in the next generation who would be taller, the average height in that generation would a bit taller on average than the preceding generation, if all else is equal."

There's also cultural preferences to consider. "There is much variation in what men and women want," said the author of the study. "When it comes to choosing a mate, height tends to have (only) a small effect, which is not very surprising given the many other, more important, traits people value in their mate."

It's all that gouda credit: GETTY

Are we growing or shrinking?

Poor nutrition and childhood illness limits human growth. Therefore, generally speaking, human height has grown significantly in the last century or two. But a number of countries, including the UK, have seen a slight dip in average height over the last few decades. Others, such as South Korea, continue to grow rapidly.

