Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:11 am Post subject: How tall are people in your country?
This could be an interesting discussion. Supposedly, the average man in America is 5'10, which is what I am, but for some reason, I feel shorter than most grown men. I heard people describe Germans and Scandanavians as being very stout and tall, so I wonder, if I am 16, and 5'10, 165 pounds, would I be small for my age in northern Europe? I'm very lean, and of average build (but somewhat ripped like most swimmers)Similarly, would I be bigger than most guys my age in southern Europe? That is, would I be taller and more robust? What do you think?
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 2:36 am Post subject:
Having lived most of my life in San Francisco and New York City, where there are lots of people from ethnic groups that have shorter average heights than the northern European stock I come from, I was always much taller than the average height for women -- or for men, for that matter. But once I went to a bar in North Carolina on a night when they were playing bluegrass, and the bar was full of Southern white guys, many of whom were over my height (6 ft/1.83 m). The women were pretty tall, too. I felt almost petite!
You're only 16... and you are almost 1.80m, You are tall for your age I think.
I've read taht the french average is 1.75 for men and 1.62 for women.
I am 1.71m.
I think the average male height here is 1.73 m while most girls seem to hover in the 1.60 to 1.65 m range. _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
I'm 167.64 cm. So much easier to say "five and a half feet". I think that makes me about average for a woman, but around here I'm often perceived as tall. (Deborah would have to be measured with an altimeter in NM.)
Did you know that we are one of the few larger primate species that has actually experienced a decrease in sexual dimorphism over the millennia? In many of our relatives and ancestors, female and male sizes hardly overlap at all (in one species of Australopithecus, males were routinely twice the size of females!) Yet it is not uncommon to find adult human females who are taller and more robust than adult males -- even I have been known to tower over a few men!
(Just a little trivia for you that I picked up in a class somewhere. Gotta put that degree to work somehow!)
If I were to meet Deborah in real life, I think I'd be rather intimidated. I suppose I have to slink away and hide in her shadow. _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
I'm 1,61 m. I've found a very interesting report about the differences between european countries :
Persistent variations in average height between countries and between socio-economic groups: an overview of 10 European countries. wrote:
Department of Public Health, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
RESULTS: Men and women were on average tallest in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands and shortest in France, Italy and Spain (range for men: 170-179 cm; range for women: 160-167 cm). The differences in average height between northern and southern European countries were not smaller among younger than among older birth cohorts. In most countries average height increased linearly with increasing birth-year (approximately 0.7-0.8 cm/5 years for men and approximately 0.4 cm/5 years for women).
In all countries, lower educated men and women on average were shorter than higher educated men (range of differences: 1.6-3.0 cm) and women (range of differences: 1.2-2.2 cm). In most countries, education-related height differences were not smaller among younger than among older birth cohorts.
CONCLUSIONS: The persistence of international differences in average height into the youngest birth cohorts indicates a high degree of continuity of differences between countries in childhood living conditions. Similarly, the persistence of education-related height differences indicates continuity of socio-economic differences in childhood living conditions, and also suggests that socio-economic differences in childhood living conditions will continue to contribute to socio-economic differences in health at adult ages.
Last edited by Pauline on Wed Nov 08, 2006 6:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
I suppose an average Dutchman or Norwegein would feel like Gulliver in Lilliput if he were in Singapore then. _________________ Hillary Clinton is an acquired taste which I have clearly yet to acquire.
You're only 16... and you are almost 1.80m, You are tall for your age I think.
I've read taht the french average is 1.75 for men and 1.62 for women.
I am 1.71m.
You see, that's interesting. According to you, in France I would be considered tall, but here, I'm just average. Most of my friends are about 17-19 years old, and most of them are taller than me, although the ones my age are my same height. Where I live, it also depends on what part of town you are in. If you are in the white part of town, I am average height. If I go to the Hispanic side of town, I'm about 3-4 inches taller than the average full grown man. I have never been to Europe, but I am speaking from the perspective in that I lived and worked at a hotel with hundreds of European guests, so I got to see small population samples which are hopefully representative of the overall populations back in Europe. The Italian men (adult men) were about 2 inches shorter than me on average, and the younger men (20-30) were my height. The Northern Europeans on the other hand (Dutch, Danes, Norweigans, Swedes, Germans) were frequently much, much taller than me. I felt like a puny Roman standing next to a giant blond haired, blue eyed, Tueton, lol! And most of the women were only a couple of inches shorter than me. If that's how it is northern Europe these days, then maybe I should be extra careful in avoiding fist fights! They say 5'10 or roughly 178 cm is the average height of American adult men, but, to tell you the truth, it seems like most adult men are taller than me, at least white and black men, but that could just be how I feel, and not reality.
And I am of the opinion, based on just visual observation, that the Dutch and Scandanavians, are I guess you would say, the more "pure" Germanic people, as they seem to have by far, the highest rate of blond haired-blue eyed look, and huge statures. It seems like a lot of southern Germans, Englishmen, and Austrians and Swiss people seem more brunette, and shorter than the former group, possibly because although they speak Germanic languages, are in fact descended from a mix of other peoples, who were originally not Germanic speaking, as Central Europe was the heartland of the Celtic peoples, historically speaking. _________________ Operation Northwoods - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
Favorite languages = English/Spanish
Followed by Italian/French/Dutch
I'm 167.64 cm. So much easier to say "five and a half feet". I think that makes me about average for a woman, but around here I'm often perceived as tall. (Deborah would have to be measured with an altimeter in NM.)
Damn, when will you leave the 19th century and adapt to the rest of the world? We don't say 167,64 centimeters, by the way. I'm 1,83 m. That's "one and eighty-three".
Pauline wrote:
In all countries, lower educated men and women on average were shorter than higher educated men (range of differences: 1.6-3.0 cm) and women (range of differences: 1.2-2.2 cm). In most countries, education-related height differences were not smaller among younger than among older birth cohorts.
You just reminded me of work. Every male medicine student you see at the hospital is tall. It's seems to be a requirement that you're like 1,90 m tall to be accepted into med. school (and also that you must not be able to write your name so that anyone can read it).
It seems like a lot of southern Germans, Englishmen, and Austrians and Swiss people seem more brunette, and shorter than the former group, possibly because although they speak Germanic languages, are in fact descended from a mix of other peoples, who were originally not Germanic speaking, as Central Europe was the heartland of the Celtic peoples, historically speaking.
In pre-WW2 times they spoke of a brunette Alpine race living in and around the Alps. If you go to Tyrol, Switzerland etc. you might certainly believe that. In the lands of Wilhelm Tell around the Alps, the South Germanic pendants to the free peasant republics of the Germanic North, most people don't look blond and blue-eyed, but very brunette.
I find there to be a sort of continum across the Alpine region of Europe. Even in northern France, the people look a lot like Austrians and Swiss. _________________ Operation Northwoods - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods
Favorite languages = English/Spanish
Followed by Italian/French/Dutch
You just reminded me of work. Every male medicine student you see at the hospital is tall. It's seems to be a requirement that you're like 1,90 m tall to be accepted into med. school (and also that you must not be able to write your name so that anyone can read it).
Are you a doctor ?
I want to be a doctor, but then I must get much taller !!!! I can write my name completely illegible without effort, so maybe it will be ok.
Having lived most of my life in San Francisco and New York City, where there are lots of people from ethnic groups that have shorter average heights than the northern European stock I come from, I was always much taller than the average height for women -- or for men, for that matter.
The average American woman is actually quite short at 5'4.5", last I heard. (That's 1.638 m to you metricians ) I'm two inches over that.
Walker wrote:
Uriel wrote:
God, I hate metric.
I'm 167.64 cm. So much easier to say "five and a half feet". I think that makes me about average for a woman, but around here I'm often perceived as tall. (Deborah would have to be measured with an altimeter in NM.)
Damn, when will you leave the 19th century and adapt to the rest of the world? We don't say 167,64 centimeters, by the way. I'm 1,83 m. That's "one and eighty-three".
Why does the world care what we use in everyday life? In the fields of medicine and all the other sciences, we use the metric system. Just asktheseguys. _________________ "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." ---- Groucho Marx
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