Ranking of Average Heights by Countries Worldwide (2026)
Global Ranking · NCD-RisC Data · 199 Countries
The world's tallest& shortest nations
Average adult heights across nearly every country on Earth — drawn from the largest human growth study ever conducted, covering 65 million people across 200 nations.
Tallest · Men
183.8cm6′0.4″
Netherlands
Tallest · Women
170.4cm5′7.1″
Netherlands
Shortest · Men
160.1cm5′3″
Timor-Leste
Shortest · Women
150.9cm4′11.4″
Guatemala
01 · The Top Three
The podium of nations
Northern and Eastern Europe dominate both rankings — a pattern shaped by three generations of universal healthcare, dairy-rich diets, and low childhood mortality.
Men · The Tallest
Women · The Tallest
02 · Complete Ranking
All 199 countries
Search any nation, filter by region, switch between men and women. Bar width compares heights within your active filter.
03 · By Region
Heights across continents
Regional averages for men. The gap between Northern Europe and South Asia is roughly 14 cm — about the length of a smartphone.
Northern Europe
181.4cm
Tallest region on Earth. Led by Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia.
Southeast Europe
180.6cm
The Dinaric cluster: Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia.
Western Europe
178.8cm
Germany, Belgium, France, UK — historically dominant, now plateaued.
North America
177.5cm
The U.S. hasn't gained height since 1980 — the longest plateau in the developed world.
Oceania
172.8cm
Wide spread — Australia and Polynesia tall; Melanesia at the bottom.
East Asia
174.6cm
Fastest gainers — Korea added 15 cm in a single century.
Middle East
174.2cm
Lebanon, Iran, Turkey near 176 cm; Yemen at the bottom.
Latin America
172.5cm
Argentina, Chile lead; Mexico, Guatemala, Peru anchor the bottom.
Sub-Saharan Africa
170.1cm
Wide internal variation from genetics, nutrition, and rural infrastructure.
Southeast Asia
166.6cm
Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines — gaining fast, still below the global mean.
South Asia
166.5cm
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh — chronic undernutrition keeps averages low.
Global Average
173.1cm
Median country sits near 173.5 cm. Distribution is remarkably even.
04 · Three Remarkable Stories
When nations change shape
Most national heights drift slowly. These three changed direction dramatically — and each tells a different story about what makes a population grow.
Case I · East Asia
South Korea
+15.2cm in 100 years
The largest documented height gain anywhere in the world. From 159.8 cm in 1914 to 174.9 cm a century later — driven by post-war nutrition programs, universal school lunches, and a six-fold rise in animal protein intake.
Case II · Middle East
Iran
+16.5cm in 100 years
Iranian men gained more height than any other Middle Eastern population. Rural electrification, vaccination programs, and a rapid drop in family size let parents invest more nutrition per child.
Case III · The Plateau
United States
+0cm since 1980
The U.S. led the world for most of the 20th century but stopped growing around 1980 — while Europe kept climbing. Leading explanations: childhood obesity, declining diet quality, and a healthcare access gap.
Sources & Methodology
Notes on the data
- NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Height and BMI trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories. The Lancet. 2020;396(10261):1511–1524.
- NCD-RisC. Country-level height data downloads.
- NCD-RisC. A century of trends in adult human height. eLife. 2016;5:e13410.
- Our World in Data. Human Height — long-run trends.
A note on the figures. Country averages are for the 1996 birth cohort measured around age 19. Individual heights vary widely within any country — these are population means, not predictions for any one person. Female estimates for a small number of countries are derived from NCD-RisC regional averages where direct country data is incomplete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about global height rankings and what shapes them
The Netherlands ranks as the tallest country in the world, with an average adult height of 177.1 cm (5 ft 9½ in). Dutch men average 183.8 cm (6 ft 0½ in) and Dutch women average 170.4 cm (5 ft 7 in). The Netherlands has held the top spot for decades, largely due to its strong dairy-based diet, excellent healthcare system, and high standard of living.
The United States ranks 52nd globally with an average adult height of 170.1 cm (5 ft 7 in). American men average 176.9 cm (5 ft 9½ in) and American women average 163.3 cm (5 ft 4½ in). While the US was once among the tallest nations in the early 1900s, its ranking has slipped as European countries continued to grow taller, mainly due to differences in diet, healthcare access, and childhood nutrition.
Europeans, especially those from Northern and Eastern Europe, tend to be taller due to a combination of genetics, high-quality nutrition, and access to healthcare. Countries like the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Estonia have benefited from generations of dairy-rich diets, low rates of childhood disease, and stable food security. Genetics from Northern European and Dinaric ancestry also contribute to taller baselines.
Timor-Leste ranks last on the global height list with an average adult height of 156.4 cm (5 ft 1½ in). Other countries near the bottom include Guatemala, Laos, Nepal, and Bangladesh. These rankings reflect a mix of genetic background and ongoing challenges with childhood nutrition, healthcare access, and economic development.
This ranking is based on data from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC), the World Health Organization, and national health surveys, representing the most reliable anthropometric data available. The figures are updated annually as new studies are published. Small variations between sources are normal, but the overall rankings remain consistent year over year.