James BenthamMariachiara Di CesareGretchen A. StevensBin ZhouHonor BixbyMelanie CowanLéa FortunatoJames E. BennettGoodarz DanaeiKaveh HajifathalianYuan LuLeanne M. RileyAvula LaxmaiahVasilis KontisChristopher J. PaciorekMajid EzzatiZiad A. AbdeenZargar Abdul HamidNiveen M. Abu-RmeilehBenjamin Acosta-CazaresRobert AdamsWichai AekplakornCarlos A. Aguilar-SalinasCharles AgyemangAlireza AhmadvandWolfgang AhrensHazzaa M. Al-HazzaaAmani Rashed Al-OthmanRajaa Al RaddadiMohamed M. AliAla’a AlkerwiMar Alvarez-PedrerolEman AlyPhilippe AmouyelAntoinette AmuzuLars Bo AndersenSigmund A. AnderssenRanjit Mohan AnjanaHajer Aounallah-SkhiriInger AriansenTahir ArisNimmathota ArlappaDominique ArveilerFelix K. AssahMária AvdicováFereidoun AziziBontha V. BabuSuhad BahijriNagalla BalakrishnaPiotr BandoszJosé R. BanegasCarlo M. BarbagalloAlberto BarcelóAmina BarkatMauro V. BarrosIqbal BataAnwar M. BatiehaRosangela L. BatistaLouise A. BaurRobert BeagleholeHabiba Ben RomdhaneMikhail BenetAntonio Bernabe-OrtizGailute BernotieneHeloisa BettiolAroor BhagyalaxmiSumit BharadwajSantosh K. BhargavaZaid BhattiZulfiqar A. BhuttaHongsheng BiYufang BiPeter BjerregaardEspen BjertnessMarius B. BjertnessCecilia BjörkelundAnneke BlokstraSimona BoMartin BobakLynne M. BoddyBernhard O. BoehmHeiner BoeingCarlos P. BoissonnetVanina BongardPascal BovetLutgart BraeckmanMarjolijn C.E. BragtImperia BrajkovichFrancesco BrancaJuergen BreckenkampHermann BrennerLizzy M. BrewsterGarry R. BrianGraziella BrunoH. Bas Bueno-de-MesquitaThe University of AdelaideHarvard School of Public HealthImperial College LondonMiddlesex UniversityOrganisation Mondiale de la SanteIndian Council of Medical ResearchUniversity of California, BerkeleyWHO Collaborating Centre on NCD Surveillance and EpidemiologyAl-Quds UniversityCenter for Diabetes and Endocrine CareBirzeit UniversityInstituto Mexicano del Seguro SocialMahidol UniversityInstituto Nacional de la Nutricion Salvador ZubiranUniversity of AmsterdamNon-Communicable Diseases Research CenterBIPSKing Saud UniversityKuwait Institute for Scientific ResearchMinistry of Health Saudi ArabiaLuxembourg Institute of HealthISGlobal Centre for Research in Environmental EpidemiologyUniversity of LilleLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineWestern Norway University of Applied SciencesNorges idrettshogskoleMadras Diabetes Research FoundationNational Institute of Public HealthNorwegian Institute of Public HealthKementerian Kesihatan MalaysiaUniversite de StrasbourgUniversite de Yaounde IRegional Authority of Public HealthShahid Beheshti University of Medical SciencesKing Abdulaziz UniversityGdanski Uniwersytet MedycznyUniversidad Autónoma de MadridUniversita degli Studi di PalermoPan American Health OrganizationMohammed V University in RabatUniversidade de PernambucoDalhousie UniversityJordan University of Science and TechnologyUniversidade Federal do MaranhaoThe University of SydneyUniversity of AucklandUniversity of Tunis El ManarUniversity of Medical ScienceUniversidad Peruana Cayetano HerediaLithuanian University of Health SciencesUniversidade de Sao Paulo - USPB.J. Med. Coll.Chirayu Medical CollegeSunder Lal Jain HospitalThe Aga Khan UniversityHospital for Sick Children University of TorontoShandong University of Traditional Chinese MedicineShanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineSyddansk UniversitetUniversitetet i OsloGöteborgs UniversitetNational Institute of Public Health and the EnvironmentUniversità degli Studi di TorinoUCLLiverpool John Moores UniversityNanyang Technological UniversityGerman Institute of Human NutritionCentro de Educacion Medica e Investigaciones Clinicas Norberto QuirnoUniversite de ToulouseMinistry of Health SeychellesUniversitat Lausanne SchweizUniversiteit GentFrieslandCampinaUniversidad Central de VenezuelaUniversität BielefeldGerman Cancer Research CenterFred Hollows Foundation, New ZealandCork Institute of TechnologyUniversidad de la LagunaUniversity of MaltaUniversity of Greenland2018-12-112019-03-142018-12-112019-03-142016-07-26eLife. Vol.5, No.2016JULY (2016)2050084X2-s2.0-84979691929https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/42980© NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3- 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8- 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.Mahidol UniversityBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular BiologyImmunology and MicrobiologyArticleSCOPUS10.7554/eLife.13410.001