Looking across the world, the tallest men and women are found in Europe with a mean height of 180 cm for men and 167 cm for women, followed by Australia. South Asians and South-East Asians tend to be the shortest with women having a mean height of 153 cm and men of 165 cm.
Dutch people are the world's tallest, with an average height of 175.62cm (5 feet 7.96 inches.) Dutch men are an average 182.53cm (5 feet 11.86 inches) tall.
The Nilotic peoples of Sudan such as the Shilluk and Dinka have been described as some of the tallest in the world. Dinka Ruweng males investigated by Roberts in 1953–54 were on average 181.3 centimetres (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) tall, and Shilluk males averaged 182.6 centimetres (6 ft 0 in).
According to their data, 18-year-old men from Montenegro are currently the tallest in the world (182.9 cm; almost exactly 6 ft), surpassing their Dutch peers (182.4 cm; 5.98 ft) by half a centimeter (about a quarter inch). Even so, the Montenegrins don't stand out among their neighbors.
Papuans are an average 159.21cm (5 feet 2.68 inches) tall. Papuan men are 163.56cm (5 feet 4.39 inches) tall on average. Papuan women are 154.87cm (5 feet 0.97 inches) tall on average.
Ethnicity is an important factor determining the height of an individual. Ethnically different populations might respond differently to the same environmental factors and thus the final height in different ethnic groups is different. Height is a polygenic trait with a high degree of heritability.
In a paper published in Nature, the researchers show that northern Europeans seem to have a stronger genetic link to a particularly tall nomadic population from the Eurasian steppe who came to Europe around 4,500 years ago. Because of these genes, northern Europeans are still tall compared to others on the continent.
In East Asia, South Korean and Chinese men are now taller than Japanese men. Adults in the South Asian countries of Bangladesh and India have heights that are plateauing, at about 2 to 4 inches (5 cm to 10 cm) shorter than adults in Japan and South Korea.
Abstract. Using gene frequency data for 62 protein loci and 23 blood group loci, we studied the genetic relationship of the three major races of man, Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid. Genetic distance data indicate that Caucasoid and Mongoloid are somewhat closer to each other than to Negroid.
According to the report, the Netherlands is still the world's tallest nation with the average height in the country for men 183.78 cm, or 6 foot, and 170.36 cm, or 5 foot 7 inches for women.
New data shows that Indian men are shorter now than they were a decade ago. So are large numbers of women. A new paper published on September 17 says that while the average height of people across the world is increasing, the average height of Indians is actually falling.
The number of taller Koreans has grown steadily over the past 42 years, government statistics show, with average height increasing by 6.4 cm for men and 5.3 cm for women during that period. While the average obesity of men has increased, the obesity level among women aged 35 and above has decreased.
The average height of men and women on the Chinese mainland is 171.8 cm (ninety-third in the world) and 159.7 cm (eighty-seventh in the world), with an increase in 11 cm and 10 cm, respectively, in the past 100 years [24].
The genetics of height
As a general rule of thumb, your height can be predicted based on how tall your parents are. If they are tall or short, then your own height is said to end up somewhere based on the average heights between your two parents. Genes aren't the sole predictor of a person's height.
Experts say natural selection, combined with a good animal protein diet, makes these Nordic locals taller than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. The Norwegians, like some of the other tallest people in the world have some great genetic backgrounds. Average height of Norwegians: 5 feet 7.97 inches.
On average, Germans are about as tall as the average American. German men average 175.4 cm (5 ft 9 in); women, 162.8 cm (5 ft 4 in). In my observation, Northern Germans tend to be taller than Southern Germans, though I have no statistics on this.
Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of an individual's height is determined by the DNA sequence variations they have inherited, but which genes these changes are in and what they do to affect height are only partially understood.
Israelis are the tallest Asians towering at 177 cms followed by South Koreans at 175 cms and Iranians at 174 cms.
The scientists identified the HMGA2 gene as playing a major role in height variation and noted that changing just one letter in the genetic code had a significant effect on growth.
Australia's population has grown taller and taller over the past century, thanks to improved healthcare, nutrition and hygiene. A global height analysis of 200 countries quite literally measured the average growth of global populations from 1914 to 2014, with every country recording an increase in height.
Now, the average height for Indian men is 5.8 feet (177 cm), and that for women is 5.3 feet (162 cm). Earlier, the average heights for men and women were considered to be 5.6 feet (171cm) and 5 feet (152 cm), respectively.