The average height of Americans has declined over generations, and there is even a disparity between professions.
According to a Washington Post analysis, which cites multiple reports from various organizations,.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey, public officials were among the tallest, with an average height of 5′ 10.6″ for men and 5′ 4.9″ for women.
Athletes, entertainers, and managers ranked near the top of both gender lists.
Genetics, nutrition, and access to healthcare all play a role in height
Meanwhile, more blue-collar jobs, such as cleaners, farmhands, machine operators, and those in food service, were among the shortest.
Previous research has suggested that the variation in height could be attributed to bias; people are more likely to hire taller candidates for leadership roles, such as public officials, because height is regarded as an indicator of health and authority.
And, as for the shortest men working as farm laborers and the shortest women working as cleaners, the Washington Post reports that those occupations employ the greatest number of immigrants, who tend to be shorter.
National heights have changed over time, and according to CDC data, the great American shrinkage has occurred over more than two decades, albeit by quarter-inch increments.
However, when the heights of modern-day people in 200 countries were compared to statures from more than 30 years ago, data from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration revealed that Americans were gradually becoming shorter overall.
Americans’ stature began to decline around 1980, coinciding with an increase in childhood obesity
In 1985, 19-year-old American men ranked 36th in the world, with women ranking 38th; by 2019, they had dropped to 47th and 58th, respectively.
According to John Komlos, an economics professor at the University of Munich, genetics, nutrition, and access to healthcare all play a role in height.
White Americans’ stature began to decline around 1980 – coinciding with an increase in childhood obesity.
Excess fat tissue raises estrogen levels, which “lead to more mature bones” and earlier-fusing growth plates, according to author and Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center pediatric endocrinologist Louise Greenspan.
In other words, the sooner children stop growing, the shorter they may become as adults.
Greenspan continued that nutrition and adequate healthcare have an impact on growth and height and that around the same time that shrinking appeared to begin in America, school lunches became more processed, and the Reagan Administration began, heralding an increase in healthcare costs. Previously, according to the Washington Post, access to food assistance during critical years of growth for fetuses and children reduced stunting.
“The U.S. fell behind European countries because Europe adopted a welfare state approach, which meant cheap medicine for the individual,” Komlos explained, so “even poor people can afford to take their children to the doctor when they need to.”
Inequality was on the rise around the same time, he continued. Those who could afford to attend universities and earn college degrees were more likely to be able to afford the necessary nutrition and care as they grew. Those who are poor, on the other hand, may lose height as a result, according to Komlos.