The News
Dutch now taller than Americans
By Matt Crenson The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 07/16/2007 05:29:20 AM MDT
New York - America used to be the tallest country in the world.
From the days of the Founding Fathers through the Industrial Revolution and two world wars, Americans literally towered over people of other nations.
But America's predominance in height has faded. Americans reached a height plateau after World War II, gradually falling behind nations around the world.
By the time the first baby boomers reached adulthood in the 1960s, most northern and western European countries had caught up with and surpassed the U.S. Young adults in Japan and other prosperous Asian countries now stand nearly as tall as Americans. In the Netherlands, the tallest country in the world, the typical man now measures 6 feet, a good 2 inches more than his average American counterpart.
Does it really matter? Does being taller give the Dutch any advantage over, say, the Chinese (men, 5 feet, 4.9 inches; women, 5 feet, 0.8 inches) or the Brazilians (men, 5 feet, 6.5 inches; women, 5 feet, 3 inches)?

The Research
Read the research behind this story in the journal Social Science Quarterly.