Americans Are Shrinking, While Chinese And Koreans Sprout Up

[beijingwalker]

Americans Are Shrinking, While Chinese And Koreans Sprout Up​

July 27, 201612:56 PM ET

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF

The countries with the tallest and shortest 18-year-old men and women in the world, according to a new study.
Leif Parsons for NPR

Whatever South Korean women are eating, pass it around!

The country is having a massive growth spurt. And it doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon.

Women in South Korea have gained 8 inches in height, on average, in the past century — a jump bigger than any other population in the world, researchers reported Tuesday.

For men, Iranians are the big winners, gaining 6.5 inches in the past hundred years.

In contrast, Americans are falling behind. Back in 1914, the U.S. had the third tallest men and fourth tallest women in the world. Now it's in the middle of the pack, ranking around 40th for both men and women.

The stats on average national heights come from a giant study published in the journal eLife, which looks at how heights around the world have changed over the past century.
The data are chock-full of interesting nuggets of information:

• American stagnation: In the past century, Americans haven't actually grown very much — only about 2 inches.
• Land of giants: Sweden was home to both the tallest men and women in 1914. But today, the Baltic countries reign supreme. Both Latvia and Estonia rank in the top five for tallest men and women.
• Petite ladies: Guatemalan women were the shortest in the world in 1914, measuring just about 4 1/2 feet. They retain that title today, but have grown about 5 inches.
• The gender gap: Men are taller than women in every country by about 5 inches, on average. A century ago, that difference was slightly lower, at 4 inches.

18-Year-Old Women: Greatest Gains In Height In Inches (1914-2014)​

Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration.
NPR
Here in the U.S., heights have plateaued — or even started to decline slightly. They peaked in 1988 for women and 1996 for men.

"There was a time when the U.S. was the land of plenty," says Majid Ezzati, of Imperial College London, who helped to lead the study. "But increasingly over time, the quality of nutrition has worsened."

Income inequality has increased in the U.S. since the 1970s, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported. "In some sense, you have a large part of the population who are not getting quality food," Ezzati says. "That drags down the whole place."

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/07/27/487391773/americans-are-shrinking-while-chinese-and-koreans-sprout-up

 

[Menthol]

On average, USA teenager is getting shorter because of immigrant children factor.

 

[Azadkashmir]

gmo food and flouride water

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

On average, USA teenager is getting shorter because of immigrant children factor.

What the data says about immigrants in the U.S.

In 2022, roughly 10.6 million immigrants living in the U.S. were born in Mexico, making up 23% of all U.S. immigrants.

www.pewresearch.org

"Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country,"