How Tall will Humans Get?

The average height of adult human males around the world is 5’8” (172.5 cm) and females around 5’2.5” (159 cm), though people in developed countries are a good deal taller than that. The average height of an American male is around 5’9.25” or 176 cm and females 5’4” (162.5 cm), though Americans are kind of underdog when it comes to height in developed countries, with the majority of the population comprised of European origin.

Canadians are taller, and so are Australians but when it comes to height, nobody comes close to Dutch (except some people of south Sudan, but that’s a special case). The average Dutch male is around 5’11.25” (181 cm) tall and the female around 5’6” (168 cm) – compare this to people in India or China where the average height is respectively 5’5.5” (166 cm) and 5’6.5” (169 cm) for males. This makes us ask the question of why there is such variation in human height around the world.

One thing that might surprise you is that people in developed countries were not so tall always. Just a century ago, the average height of males in the United States (one of the tallest in the world at the time) was the same as that of Dutch women now. The French were even shorter at just 5’4.5” (164 cm) for males and likely below 5” for females.

This brings us to the question of why people in developed countries grew so much during this time. Scientists say that all the clues of the height growth just point to better nutrition and higher quality, relatively disease-free life.

So if the people grew this much in a century, will they grow even more? How tall will humans get eventually? What is the upper limit of our height? Will we continue to get taller until we can touch a giraffe’s head and become some kind of giant or we will stop growing when our average height is around seven feet?

Nobody actually knows the answer for sure but there are clues, let us check them out.

The first is how tall a single individual can grow naturally, without some kind of unnatural condition.

Is it 6 feet? Nah that’s too common. 6’4” for males and 5’11” for females? Well, I have known taller, in fact, some people in developed countries grow up to 6’8” (203 cm) on routine, and females 6’2” (188 cm) or more.

Kristian Nairn, the actor who played Hodor in the game of thrones is 6’8”. Gwendoline Christie (Lady Brienne) is 6’3.5” (19 cm). Ian Whyte from the movie Predator is 7’1” (213 cm), and so is Shaq. They are all very tall and all seem to be free of the condition (acromegaly) that has affected The Great Khali. So is 7 feet the limit? Not so fast.

Then comes basketball players, Yao Ming and Sim Bhuller, both are super tall at 7’6” (224 cm) and 7’5” (221 cm) respectively without any condition which affects height. What they have is tall parents (fathers around 6’6”, mother above 6”).

So, if an individual can grow up to seven and a half feet tall, if there are ideal conditions can everyone grow up to that tall too?

The likely answer is no, at least not until there are some amazing advances in science over the next centuries. Until then, some people will always be malnourished and affected by disease or grow up in challenging environments. They will not be able to reach their height potential and then pass their genetics to their children, who will likely be shorter than the children of tall parents.

A big example of this is the United States, where the average height hit a plateau around the 1970s, and the average height in the country then has not increased since then. Poverty, drug addiction, homelessness, and soaring medical costs, are all culprits to this stoppage in average height growth to one degree or another.

At this time, the Dutch people are likely to have the ideal conditions for a growing child. The climate is pleasant, the food is nourishing with plenty of milk, (the ideal food supplement for a growing child), and the people have access to good medical care.

However, even the Dutch are showing signs of slowing growth in height so we can assume that humans in current environments are not likely to grow much more than 6” for males and 5’7” for females.

Now comes the exception, the Dinka and Shilluk people of south Sudan. They are extremely tall and look even taller. Scientists speculate that their extremely tall stature is likely an adaption to the extremely hot year-round weather.

Now south Sudan is not the richest or the country with the highest HDI (human development index), and still some people over there are extremely tall – around the same height as Dutch people. One wonders if they are provided with the same condition as the Dutch, how tall will they get? Around 6’6” for males and 6’1” for females?