Average height of Korean adults higher than in 2003

The average height of a Korean adult man between the ages of 20 and 60 is 171.5 centimeters and that of a woman is 158.5 centimeters.

The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Knowledge Economy Ministry released Thursday the results of the sixth study on the average Korean body size. In 2003, the survey found the average height of a Korean man was 170.1 centimeters and a woman 157.3 centimeters.

Over the past seven years, the average height of a man has risen 1.4 centimeters and that of woman 1.2 centimeters.

The ratio of the length of the head to the height of those in their 20s is around 7.3 on average, more than 0.1 point bigger than that of those in their 40s.

The agency said, “This indicates that the Korean body shape is being westernized as the ratio moves closer to eight among young people.”

Those in their 20s had legs 2 centimeters longer than those in their 50s with the same height.

Women slow down in growth starting at age 12 and men at age 15, and afterwards, they grow no more than four to five centimeters on average. The age of the growth slowdown was 13 for women in 2003 but fell to 12 this year.

Given that women’s height slows after their first period, the change indicates that the first period starts a year earlier than before, the agency said.

The study was conducted on 7,532 men and 6,484 women from seven to 69 years old between March and November this year.

alwaysj@donga.com