{"id":131750,"date":"2016-07-29T19:15:39","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T17:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=131750"},"modified":"2016-07-29T17:14:02","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T15:14:02","slug":"the-world-is-getting-taller-but-not-so-much-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/131750\/the-world-is-getting-taller-but-not-so-much-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The world is getting taller – but not so much in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new global study has shown that the human race has gotten taller over the past 100 years – though South Africans have shown some of the least change.<\/p>\n

The study, conducted by Imperial College in London, looked at average height measurements for men and women in 1914, and compared it to data from 2014.<\/p>\n

The data drew on almost 1500 sources, including government health studies and military data, to model changes in the height of 18-year-olds across 200 countries over 100 years from 1914<\/p>\n

The research found that average height as increased globally, though there were dramatic differences, depending on the region.<\/p>\n

Specifically, there were low differences in sub-Saharan Africa, and large differences in Asian nations and European countries.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, the global trend of increased height has been attributed to improvements in nutrition, hygiene and healthcare, downplaying the role of genetics when looking at an average.<\/p>\n

Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, while seeing an improvement in the listed criteria, remains one of the regions worse off in terms of nutrition and health.<\/p>\n

Height in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n

South African men have shown the third lowest rate of growth in the world, having increased height by a mere 1.4 cm over the past 100 years. South African women fared better, but still relatively lower, adding 3.1 cm.<\/p>\n

South Africa has the 76th shortest average height for women in the world (158 cm, up from 154.9 cm in 1914), while South African men are quite short, ranked\u00a047th overall for the average height of 166.7 cm (up from 165.3 cm in 1914).<\/p>\n

Dutch men, and Latvian women are now the tallest people in the world at 182.5 cm and 169.8 cm – in 1914, the title was held by Swedish men and women at 171.9 cm and 160.3 cm.<\/p>\n

The shortest men and women are in East Timor (159.8 cm) and Guatemala (149.4 cm), respectively – in 1914, it was Lao men (152.9 cm), though\u00a0Guatemalan women (140.3 cm).<\/p>\n

The tables below show which countries now have the tallest and shortest people in the world, and which countries have shown the biggest and smallest changes in height over the past 100 years.<\/p>\n

Countries with the tallest and shortest men and women<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Country<\/th>\n2014 Male Height (cm)<\/th>\nCountry<\/th>\n2014 Female Height (cm)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Tallest<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Netherlands<\/td>\n182.5<\/td>\nLatvia<\/td>\n169.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Belgium<\/td>\n181.7<\/td>\nEstonia<\/td>\n168.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Estonia<\/td>\n170.9<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/td>\n168.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Denmark<\/td>\n170.0<\/td>\nCzech Republic<\/td>\n168.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Latvia<\/td>\n169.4<\/td>\nSerbia<\/td>\n167.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/td>\n168.4<\/td>\nSlovakia<\/td>\n167.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Croatia<\/td>\n168.1<\/td>\nDenmark<\/td>\n167.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Serbia<\/td>\n167.4<\/td>\nLithuania<\/td>\n166.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Iceland<\/td>\n170.5<\/td>\nUkraine<\/td>\n166.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Czech Republic<\/td>\n168.0<\/td>\nBelarus<\/td>\n166.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shortest<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Timor-Leste<\/td>\n159.8<\/td>\nGuatemala<\/td>\n149.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Yemen<\/td>\n159.9<\/td>\nPhilippines<\/td>\n149.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lao PDR<\/td>\n160.5<\/td>\nBangladesh<\/td>\n150.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Madagascar<\/td>\n161.5<\/td>\nNepal<\/td>\n150.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malawi<\/td>\n162.2<\/td>\nMadagascar<\/td>\n151.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nepal<\/td>\n162.3<\/td>\nTimor-Leste<\/td>\n151.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rwanda<\/td>\n162.7<\/td>\nMarshall Islands<\/td>\n151.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marshall islands<\/td>\n162.8<\/td>\nLao PDR<\/td>\n151.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Philippines<\/td>\n163.2<\/td>\nIndia<\/td>\n152.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cambodia<\/td>\n163.3<\/td>\nIndonesia<\/td>\n152.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Countries with the biggest and smallest change in height: 1914 – 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Country<\/th>\nMale Height change (cm)<\/th>\nCountry<\/th>\nFemale Height change (cm)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Biggest change<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Iran<\/td>\n+16.5<\/td>\nSouth Korea<\/td>\n+20.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Greenland<\/td>\n+15.4<\/td>\nJapan<\/td>\n+16.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Korea<\/td>\n+15.1<\/td>\nCzech Republic<\/td>\n+15.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Greece<\/td>\n+14.8<\/td>\nSerbia<\/td>\n+15.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Japan<\/td>\n+14.6<\/td>\nCroatia<\/td>\n+15.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Belgium<\/td>\n+14.5<\/td>\nGreenland<\/td>\n+14.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spain<\/td>\n+14.3<\/td>\nGreece<\/td>\n+14.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Portugal<\/td>\n+13.9<\/td>\nLatvia<\/td>\n+14.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
China<\/td>\n+13.9<\/td>\nPoland<\/td>\n+14.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Turkey<\/td>\n+13.9<\/td>\nNetherlands<\/td>\n+13.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Smallest change<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Marshall Islands<\/td>\n+0.5<\/td>\nTuvalu<\/td>\n+1.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pakistan<\/td>\n+1.2<\/td>\nMadagascar<\/td>\n+1.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
South Africa<\/td>\n+1.4<\/td>\nPhilippines<\/td>\n+1.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mauritania<\/td>\n+1.8<\/td>\nNiger<\/td>\n+2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kiribati<\/td>\n+2.4<\/td>\nNamibia<\/td>\n+2.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Namibia<\/td>\n+2.8<\/td>\nNauru<\/td>\n+2.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rwanda<\/td>\n+2.8<\/td>\nKenya<\/td>\n+2.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Madagascar<\/td>\n+2.8<\/td>\nRwanda<\/td>\n+2.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
India<\/td>\n+2.9<\/td>\nMarshall Islands<\/td>\n+2.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malawi<\/td>\n+3.0<\/td>\nLesotho<\/td>\n+2.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

More on South Africa<\/h3>\n

Gun deaths in South Africa vs the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Smoking in South Africa vs the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

South Africa alcohol consumption vs the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Life expectancy in South Africa vs the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new global study has shown that the human race has gotten taller over the past 100 years – though South Africans have shown some of the least change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":131770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-131750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131750"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131774,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131750\/revisions\/131774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}