Researchers found out that the average height of men grew by roughly 11 cm in 100 years.
The data collected was from hundreds of thousands of men in 15 European countries including modern population and military records between 1870s and 1980s.
In 1871 to 1875 the average height of 21-year old British men was 167.05 cm (5 feet and 5 inches) and in 1971 to 1975 it was 177.37 (5 feet and 10 inches).
Professor Tim Hatton, lead author of the from Essex University, believe that genes may have played as an important determinant of height, though they clarified the dissimilarity among individuals, the trend shown in the study was left unexplained.
He also added that there was no Darwinian Explanation in the trend and that people in the 20th century would have not survived in the 19th century.
The researchers of the study claimed that though the gene pool cannot explain the significant raise in the average height in four to five decades there are still a number of factors considered like the events during the first couple of years of life, high incidence of illnesses such as diarrheas and respiratory diseases, increased incidence of move to smaller families where there are fewer mouths to feed and higher income that is accompanied by better living conditions and education and literacy about health and nutrition.
As shown in the study, the height trend differs across different countries.
Converse to the expected in Northern Europe, there was a notable surge in the average height during the period covering the two World Wars and the Great Depression, prior to the introduction of the National Health Service. This might be because of the long-term improvements in nutrition, self-hygiene and sanitation.
In the Southern Europe, there was a sharp acceleration in the average height recorded after World War II. The significant income growth and their adaptation to some of Northern Europe’s social measures may have contributed to the sharp acceleration in the past decades, Professor Hatton wrote in the study.
An increase in human height is a key indicator of improvements in the mean health of populations, according to the researchers. However, even if height can be a helpful indicator, it is still vital to give attention on improving health in general.
The study was published in the Sept. 1 issue of the online journal Oxford Economic Papers. It focused on males as there were insufficient data for women.
