According to a recently conducted study, it has been revealed that in the last 100 years between 1914 and 2014, the average height of Indian men increased by 3 cm to reach 165 cm (5 ft 5 inches) while women grew taller by 5 cm to become 153 cm (5 feet 1 inch). The study led by scientists from Imperial College, London and conducted by more than 800 researchers involved 1,470 earlier studies covering over 18.6 million participants in 200 countries. Most countries have shown an increase in height over the past century, with Iranian men and South Korean women shooting up most-by 16.5cm and 20.2cm. But the once-tall Americans-placed third among men and fourth among women in 1914-slipped to 37th and 42nd place in 2014.
Overall, the ten tallest nations in 2014 were dominated by European countries, and featured no English-speaking nation. "Factors such as good nutrition, clean water supply, avoidance of childhood infections, and a mother's health during pregnancy affect how much these children grow. We believe that the relatively small gains in height in India are likely to be due to some or all of these factors," a researcher said.
They also added “Our data shows that children aged between 5 and 13 years are on average 5.5cm to 7.5cm taller than their parents at the same age 30 years ago. Obviously, they are still in a growing phase and the difference will increase. These changes are comparable to or greater than those seen in developed countries at a similar stage of socio-economic development about 50 years ago,”
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