The Dutch Are the Tallest in the World

[galvez]

www.rnw.nl/health/html/tall_dutch.html

"It's official - the people of The Netherlands are the tallest in the world. The average Dutch man measures 184 cms - or just over 6 feet, and the average Dutch woman measures 170.8 cms or just over 5 foot 7 inches."

[Graeme]

I am happy for them. Height is not an issue with me. I am in the short class, 176 cm, same as the Brits and Yanks. I am sure though that if it was possible to clone me ( not that I advocate cloning of anyone), that the clone would probably be the same height as the Dutch folk. Young man aged 17 to 18 years here in Australia are about 182 cm tall whatever their race or racial sub group. People are getting taller.

Personally I am more interested in longevity, good health, intelligence and cultural achievements before height. By the way people are getting much heavier and broader as well.

[geirr]

Graeme said:

I am happy for them. Height is not an issue with me. I am in the short class, 176 cm, same as the Brits and Yanks. I am sure though that if it was possible to clone me ( not that I advocate cloning of anyone), that the clone would probably be the same height as the Dutch folk. Young man aged 17 to 18 years here in Australia are about 182 cm tall whatever their race or racial sub group. People are getting taller.

Personally I am more interested in longevity, good health, intelligence and cultural achievements before height. By the way people are getting much heavier and broader as well.

I don't understand your hypothesis, Why would a clone of you be taller?, if both genes and environment were the same? The article stated that the reasons were not genetic but religious as averages differed greatly between the protestant north and the catholic south. I have no idea what Australia's average height is or whether Australians are getting taller, but as the article says, in neigbouring Scandinavian countries, people have stopped growing therefore what's happening in Holland is different statistically to elsewere.

[Graeme]

I was not expounding an hypothesis, but neither was Dr. M Roede. She was conjecturing about the differences between the north and south of the Netherlands, and extrapolating to the religious differences, age of parturition and the age of the uterus. The Netherlands is not an homogeneous country and genetic factors cannot be dismissed out of hand in the height differences between north and south. As for Roman Catholics having larger families, yes, probably true 50 years ago but not so applicable today. Religious differences between Christians are not very important today. In Australia 50 years ago Roman Catholics did not marry Protestants and vica versa. So the two major elements in the Australian population the English Australians and the Irish Australians were practically pure 50 years ago. I suspect in the Netherlands the two religious groups did not intermarry until recently also. That lack of interbreeding implies genetic differences and genetic drift. In addition, like Australia, the Netherlands protestants were better off, better educated, and better fed. So there are environmental and genetic differences involved in the height differences within the population of any country.

As for a clone of me, I was born in Southern Europe in poor circumstances to poor parents who already had four other children. My mother who is now dead, was not a young mother when I was born. All those factors Dr. Roede mentioned Catholicism, large families, age of mother, age of uterus all apply to me. I am incidentally the tallest of my brothers and the fifth born. So I am an exception to Dr Roede's conjectures about height. As for my clone, my DNA may no longer be in prime condition as I am an adult but he will develop under optimum conditions compared to the conditions experienced by me in utero, so I can safely expect that he will be taller than me.

The people in the Northlands, USA or Britain are not standing still, they are just growing taller at a slower rate. There are environmenal factors involved in these countries which cause this lag in the increase in height.

[alex221166]

People are getting taller - that's a fact. What is probably neglected by most is that this has more to do with one's diet than with anything else.

Nowadays, the mediterranean diet is being replaced with fast-food, which is much richer in protein. As a result, the youngsters will get taller - and fatter. Obesity is on the rise throughout Europe, as a direct result of what I am saying.

[geirr]

This article apperared in TIME in 1996 it not only speaks about why people are getting taller but includes a mortality risk among men 40-59
www.vwl.uni-muenchen.de/ls_komlos/covereu.html

[Springa]

Are the Dutch taller than the Masai or other tall African peoples?

[Praetor]

We have to see a report on Masai etc to be certain.What I know is that the title of the Dutch article is way too resolved.One can be certain only after taking into consideratrion all the globe,which I don't think it is the case here. Dutch are very tall by the way.I reckon Patrick,a Dutch friend that I had that was 204cm.During my time in Amsterdam I could feel that men there were clearly taller than Finns,Greeks,Italians or Germans.Norwegians are huge too.

[HINDI]

I live in the Netherlands and yes they are tall but unattractive in my opinion..

[Sandwich]

Try different tube stations on the Amsterdam Metro. In the richer areas, if you're an average sized male Brit like myself, you feel like a dwarf i.e. ALL the women are taller than you. In the poorer areas, it's more bearable.

And look at the Israelis: from short stunted people the Jews have become tall, not just athletic. I assume that in both cases it's down to vitamins, fresh fruit, etc.

Is there any suggestion of a (biologically) necessary correlation between average height and the existence of individuals at either extreme within a particular race?
I doubt it, although it's possible. For instance you might get a shorter than average race particularily susceptible to certain growth disorders producing weird looking tallness. You get this in Sweden, but then again some Swedes are huge and perfectly normal looking with it as well.

[Caipira]

One stupid question:

Are there, in Amsterdan, Paris, London, Rome, etc., neighbourhoods of poor locals, or poors are almost imigrants and their descendants?

[Sandwich]

Are there, in Amsterdan, Paris, London, Rome, etc., neighbourhoods of poor locals, or poors are almost imigrants and their descendants?

Yes. Some poorer areas will have plenty of immigrants, even a majority, but some will still be mainly white, and mainly indigenous whites - partly because they make it damn uncomfortable for non-whites to live there. Areas which produce a lot of our famous football hooligans. Traditional cockney areas like East Ham are like this, although the picture is changing all the time. In England, you might find it difficult to tell somebody who is part-Irish from somebody is mostly English by parentage, but we don't have that many poor white immigrants. And we don't have that sudden transition that you get in the States, where if you cross the street, you're suddenly in an immigrant block. It's more gradual.

In the Dutch case, the contrast I'm making is between the really rich areas (populated by dentists with yachts, etc) and just normal mainly white areas. I suppose the implication, if height is diet-related, is that you need to eat a certain very specific - and costly - kind of diet to produce the effect. I don't notice this phenomenon in England, possibly because the contrast doesn't affect me personally, although the poor whites are statistically shorter. If it's not diet/health related in Holland, maybe it's down to sexual selection for height or factors that correlate with height by the well-to-do. Could be both of course.

All this is waffle without some height-social class statistics from Holland. I'll see if I can find some, they might just be in English.

[Sandwich]

www.simponline.it/archivio/the_treatment.html

As the article above suggests, it seems that smoking during pregnancy plays a crucial role. Of course, that is something that female dentists, doctors, academics, etc, or the wives of male members of such professions probably do less than the average female member of the population.

[supergirl]

my ex is half duch half american his duch dad is 6'6 and he is 6'4 still when he lived on croatian coast he didnt stick out simply coz in dalmacija people are very tall ,,btw I heard that croatian band DALEKA OBALA from dalmacija entered the guiness book of records as the talles band but I aint sure..

[danielou]

i am 1m80 and i went few years ago with a friend to amsterdam. This friend is 1m70. We looked like 2 dwarf in comparison with young dutch which were all around 1m90.