Average height by country (men and women, 2019)
Among the 15 countries here, Australia has the tallest men (178.8 cm) and Canada the tallest women (164.7 cm), while India has the lowest averages (166.5 cm men, 155.2 cm women). These are NCD-RisC estimates of mean height at age 19 in 2019 (PMID 33160572).
Reviewed by Dr. Aman Khanna, M.S. Orthopaedics, an orthopaedic surgeon. Limb lengthening is bone surgery, not physiotherapy.
Average height for men and women in 15 countries
Click a column heading to sort. Men and women columns are NCD-RisC estimates of mean height at age 19 in 2019; they are not the average of all adults alive today. The two gain columns come from a different NCD-RisC series (eLife 2016, mean height at age 18, birth cohorts 1896 to 1996).
| Australia | 178.8 | 5 ft 10 in | 164.7 | 5 ft 5 in | 10.3 | 10.4 |
| Canada | 178.7 | 5 ft 10 in | 164.7 | 5 ft 5 in | 7.4 | 6.3 |
| Egypt | 174.6 | 5 ft 9 in | 160.9 | 5 ft 3 in | 8.0 | 8.6 |
| India | 166.5 | 5 ft 6 in | 155.2 | 5 ft 1 in | 3.0 | 4.6 |
| Iraq | 173.8 | 5 ft 8 in | 158.7 | 5 ft 2 in | 11.2 | 9.0 |
| Jordan | 174.8 | 5 ft 9 in | 159.5 | 5 ft 3 in | 12.1 | 8.6 |
| Kenya | 170.5 | 5 ft 7 in | 159.4 | 5 ft 3 in | 3.9 | 2.3 |
| Kuwait | 175.0 | 5 ft 9 in | 160.1 | 5 ft 3 in | 11.6 | 9.2 |
| Nigeria | 171.6 | 5 ft 8 in | 158.1 | 5 ft 2 in | 4.9 | 3.2 |
| Oman | 171.7 | 5 ft 8 in | 158.4 | 5 ft 2 in | 13.4 | 10.4 |
| Qatar | 173.3 | 5 ft 8 in | 160.7 | 5 ft 3 in | 11.3 | 9.0 |
| Saudi Arabia | 170.7 | 5 ft 7 in | 158.8 | 5 ft 3 in | 9.5 | 6.8 |
| United Arab Emirates | 174.1 | 5 ft 9 in | 160.5 | 5 ft 3 in | 11.2 | 9.1 |
| United Kingdom | 178.2 | 5 ft 10 in | 163.9 | 5 ft 5 in | 10.6 | 11.0 |
| United States | 176.9 | 5 ft 10 in | 163.3 | 5 ft 4 in | 6.1 | 5.0 |
About these figures
The headline figures come from the country file of the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) published with the 2020 Lancet paper on height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents (PMID 33160572). We use the modelled mean height at age 19 in 2019, with its 95 percent uncertainty interval, which is the oldest age the file covers. The gain columns and the century-trend sections on country pages use a different series, the 2016 eLife paper "A century of trends in adult human height" (PMID 27458798), which gives mean height at age 18 for birth cohorts 1896 to 1996.
The values are model estimates, not a census, and the interval is wider where few national measurements exist. The dataset reports national values only, so it does not show differences within a country. The two NCD-RisC series are separate analyses, so a country's 2019 figure and its 1996-cohort figure differ.
Questions about these figures
Which year do these heights describe?
They describe 19-year-olds in 2019, born around 2000, so they are the most recent figures in the NCD-RisC country file (PMID 33160572). The century trend on each country page uses a separate cohort series (PMID 27458798).
Why do other websites show different numbers?
Different sources use different survey years, age groups and methods, and some use self-reported height, which tends to run higher than measured height. These figures are one consistent modelled dataset, so countries can be compared with each other.
Is this the average height of all adults in the country?
No. It is the average at age 19 in 2019. Older adults belong to earlier birth cohorts, whose averages differ from country to country.
Can an adult increase their height?
Not without surgery: the growth plates fuse after puberty and the long bones stop lengthening (PMID 25883921). Surgery is the only method we know of that adds bone length, and it carries real risks (PMID 32670567). Each country page explains this in more detail.
References
- NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants. Lancet 2020;396:1511-1524. (PMID 33160572). Headline figures: mean height at age 19 in 2019. Data file: NCD_RisC_Lancet_2020_height_child_adolescent_country.zip, accessed 8 October 2026.
- NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC). A century of trends in adult human height. eLife 2016;5:e13410. (PMID 27458798). Used only for the 1896 to 1996 birth-cohort trend (mean height at age 18). Data file: NCD_RisC_eLife_2016_height_age18_countries.csv, accessed 8 October 2026.
- Shim KS. Pubertal growth and epiphyseal fusion. Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2015;20(1):8-12. (PMID 25883921).
- Marwan Y, Cohen D, Alotaibi M, Addar A, Bernstein M, Hamdy R. Cosmetic stature lengthening: systematic review of outcomes and complications. Bone Joint Res 2020;9(7):341-350. (PMID 32670567).
- Tyrrell J, Jones SE, Beaumont R, et al. Height, body mass index, and socioeconomic status: mendelian randomisation study in UK Biobank. BMJ 2016;352:i582. (PMID 26956984).
Data licence: NCD-RisC data are published under CC BY 4.0 (ncdrisc.org).
Questions about adult height?
Send your height and age. Candidacy is decided at consultation, from X-rays and examination.
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