Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
After reading this thread again since it was resurrected, I noticed a correlation that colder states generally have taller people according to these anecdotes. Is there a reason for this?
Scandinavians are not the only tall ethnic group, and that also doesn't explain Washington. Maybe Minnesota sure, but the other Northern states not so much...
For an example, Bosnians rank high on height, along with the Netherlands, Germany, Iceland.... But no one ever talks about these ethnic groups.
The Netherlands actually has the tallest average height for men in the world. The Dutch as a whole are known for being tall and have taller average heights than even Scandinavians.
I've found Los Angeles to be a city with ample shorter to average height males. Could be the Asian and Hispanic influence, but also the influence of more ethnic whites such as Jews, Italians, Persians, Armenians which are average overall. The South and midwest tend to have a lot of tall people. Texas has a lot of German, Czech and Anglo/Scots-Irish ancestry. Tall people in the dance halls.
The South and midwest tend to have a lot of tall people.
Depends on where in the south,I didn't really notice anything while there. I did notice alot of tall ones in New Jersey though...heck they even have exclusive clubs for that there.
After reading this thread again since it was resurrected, I noticed a correlation that colder states generally have taller people according to these anecdotes. Is there a reason for this?
mostly has to do with the forces of natural selection and not being smothered and being able to breathe without having to climb up a dangerous ice covered tree or rock due to the constantly high snow depth during the winter...the shorter people that survive living under the snow are harder to find and breed with
mostly has to do with the forces of natural selection and not being smothered and being able to breathe without having to climb up a dangerous ice covered tree or rock due to the constantly high snow depth during the winter...the shorter people that survive living under the snow are harder to find and breed with
Much of eastern Russia, Mongolia, and Alaska gets below zero in winter with plenth of snow, and their indigenous people are not tall on average. This is an absurd theory. Northern Europeans became tall because it was aesthetically desirable. Nothing more. There was no extreme geographic-physiological need. In fact, much of what people think was necessary as far as adapting to environment is vastly overrated. The whole theory about lack of pigmentation due to lack of sunlight is overplayed. Seattle and Alaska lack sunlight for much of the year, yet the native American groups (Inuit, Duwamish, etc.) that inhabited did not lose pigmentation.
If humans needed to be tall and muscular to build buildings or light haired to adapt to certain weathed, then how would East Asians manage to build the civilization that they have and why did they retain black hair when they have just as extreme of winters?
Don't kid yourself. The extremities of pigmentation, size, and shapes amongst black Africans and northern Euros function as an aesthetic quality and the environmental advantages are minor in the grand scheme of things.
Last edited by skidamarink; 07-06-2016 at 01:30 PM..
Much of eastern Russia, Mongolia, and Alaska gets below zero in winter with plenth of snow, and their indigenous people are not tall on average. This is an absurd theory. Northern Europeans became tall because it was aesthetically desirable. Nothing more. There was no extreme geographic-physiological need. In fact, much of what people think was necessary as far as adapting to environment is vastly overrated. The whole theory about lack of pigmentation due to lack of sunlight is overplayed. Seattle and Alaska lack sunlight for much of the year, yet the native American groups (Inuit, Duwamish, etc.) that inhabited did not lose pigmentation.
If humans needed to be tall and muscular to build buildings or light haired to adapt to certain weathed, then how would East Asians manage to build the civilization that they have and why did they retain black hair when they have just as extreme of winters?
Don't kid yourself. The extremities of pigmentation, size, and shapes amongst black Africans and northern Euros function as an aesthetic quality and the environmental advantages are minor in the grand scheme of things.
As far as skin pigmentation goes, Eskimos and other cold-weather indigenous populations are dark because of diet. I read somewhere Scandinavians mainly ate red meat, whereas the indigenous like Siberians relied on fish. Fish is teeming with vitamin D necessary for melanin production. Given the fact they are on similar latitudes and all.
Scandinavians are not the only tall ethnic group, and that also doesn't explain Washington. Maybe Minnesota sure, but the other Northern states not so much...
For an example, Bosnians rank high on height, along with the Netherlands, Germany, Iceland.... But no one ever talks about these ethnic groups.
The Netherlands actually has the tallest average height for men in the world. The Dutch as a whole are known for being tall and have taller average heights than even Scandinavians.
It has to do with good nutrition and exercise. The midwestern states have a lot of farmers who have access to fresh produce and due to their nature of work, they get a lot of exercise. The same is the case with the dutch. Although there aren't as many farmers there but they have excellent nutrition and because everyone rides a bicycle everywhere, they get plenty of exercise. During WW2 the height of the dutch dropped significantly. So the generation that was growing during that time period is one of the shortest in dutch history.
In asia most countries get their cereal calories from the rice while in the west it is mostly wheat and corn. Rice is a very labor intensive crop and requires abundant availability of cheap labor. That is why asian countries namely china and india have very high population densities that inevitably leads to poor nutrition and low standard of living. The same is true for all the places with tropical agriculture. Indonesia is a good example of that. In short tropical agriculture sucks and leads to people with low standard of living and inevitably poor nutrition which leads to lower average height.
U.S has never had to worry about food security in its history so midwestern farmers and even people living in the affluent suburbs will have good nutrition and plenty of space to grow taller.
Having moved from NYC to Madison, WI I'd have to say that people are definitely taller on average here. I'm 6'1" and feel around average. I see plenty of men who are at least 6'5" frequently, but I'd say most men fall between 5'10'' and 6'3''. I frequently see entire groups of students who are all at least two inches taller than myself. I've also seen a surprising amount of women who are my height. I will note that the closer you get to Milwaukee or Illinois, the shorter the people seem. I haven't noticed any significant difference in height between Madison residents and people from Minnesota. All the people who attend UW from Minnesota are indistinguishable in height from Wisconsin folk, whereas people from the coasts do tend to be shorter.
I visited Chicago recently, and I'd say the average male height was at least two inches below Madison, and I barely saw anyone over 6'4". I'm taller than maybe 60% of people in Madison, but probably 85% of people on the Northside of Chicago. It was quite a remarkable difference. And I'm mostly talking about White people.
Last edited by blainnyc; 07-19-2016 at 05:19 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
