Question: when is a tall story not a tall story?
Answer: when it’s about tallness but it’s true.
“Men and women have grown taller over the last century, with South Korean women shooting up by more than 20cm (7.9in) on average, and Iranian men gaining 16.5 cm (6.5in). A comprehensive global study looked at the average height of 18-year old men and women in 200 countries between 1914 and 2014.
The results reveal that while Swedes were the tallest people in the world in 1914, Dutch men have risen from 12th place to claim top spot with an average height of 182.5cm (5ft 11.9 inches).
Latvian women, meanwhile, rose from 28th place in 1914 to become the tallest in the world a century later, with an average height of 169.8cm (5ft 6.9in).
With an increase in height seen across the century in every country around the world, the British have also gained a few inches. Both men and women have added around 11cm (4.3 in) to their height since 1914, with the average man now 177.5cm (5ft 9.8in) tall and the average woman boasting a height of 164.4cm (5ft 4.7in).”
These are the headline messages from an article in today’s “Guardian” newspaper but you can also find detailed statistics for women and men in lots of countries here.