Isn’t it ironic, that the nickname for the Netherlands is the lowlands. Quite frankly, a more descriptive term would be the highlands or at least the high-people-lands. If you haven’t noticed, Dutch people are tall. Really tall. Freakishly tall. Tall enough to make even a “normally” tall person feel short. They are in fact, the tallest people in the world! Have you seen ‘em lately? Quite frankly, they are busting out of their red-panted-steams!
Will we ever stop growing?
The odd thing here is that the Dutch haven’t always been tall. Ever been inside a 16th century canal house? Those tiny doors and quaintly low ceilings were indeed for tiny people. However, in only a century’s time, Dutch people went from being amongst the shortest nations to being the tallest homo-sapien-sapiens on the planet! The average Dutch man measures in at 1.837 m (6 ft 1 inches) and their lengthy female counterparts at a respectable 1.693 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 inches).
Of course, there are a million and one hypothesis on why the Dutch are such vertically superior beings. Fabulous health-care? Impeccable hygiene? Superior diets? Generous sleep habits? All of these of course play a role, but I’ll put my money on the big D. Dairy, that is. Have you seen the copious amounts consumed in this country. I’m not alone in my conclusion, a recent study linked the number of cows per capita to the height of a country’s people. And guess what folks, the Dutch certainly have no shortage of cattle!
I bet you’re thinking that Dutch people must then all have it easy, in their lofty towers of height superiority. After all, aren’t there all sorts studies on the positive correlation between height and success? Think again folks! It ain’t all fun and games. Noooo, as we speak the tireless lobbyist group Klub Lange Mensen (Club for the Tall) are busy fighting the fight for enormously tall Dutch people’s rights.
It ain’t easy being tall. Tall Dutch people continually smack themselves on doorways, scratch the tops of their heads on ceilings, and get their lanky legs caught in each others lanky legs while simply trying to walk down the street! The tall Dutch people of the world need help (and apparently anti-growth hormones) and the hard working, self sacrificing people of the Klub Lange Mensen (KLM) will see that their tall bodies get the equalities they deserve! On their website they even offer advice for parents who are trying to see if their children will be lange (long) or te lange (too long)- gasp!!
It ain’t all bad news though, KLM’s website highlights a recent study on height and happiness; apparently all those smacks on the forehead have beaten the blues right out of them! So drink your milk children, and you too can be over 2 meters and blissfully happy!
Being 202 centimeters (6ft 6 inch), I can relate to this
Forgetting about the overall national average height, how tall would you say the latest generation of women is in the netherlands? are most 5ft7 or are the younger girls generally even taller?
I would say the younger generation of women is taller then 5ft7. I’d say they are more likely to be averaging around 1.75 metres, around 5 ft 9 inches.
Wow, that tall? It’s hard to believe that this generation of Dutch women is possibly taller on average that American men. Could that really be the case?
I am a 1m88 tall dutch woman…..
American youngsters on average are getting shorter. Has noone noticed the short girls and boys over the years..?
I’am a dutch women how is 1.82 meters (5 feet 11 inches) and compaired to my friends i am fairly tall. But I never hit my head on doorways. lol
I am a 16 year-old Dutch girl and I am 1,78 m, (about 6 ft, I think) And I am quite tall compared to my friends. Still most of them are only a few centimetres shorter than me. The Dutch are tall and they keep growing, I think….
I am of Dutch heritage, grew up in a Dutch Canadian community and at 5′ 7 (and a bit) I thought I was short. I have three brothers all well over 6 feet and plenty of taller female Dutch friends. Then I went to university and realized that I had skewed view of height. I’m taller than I thought.
My boyfriend is 198 centimeters (i don’t know how many inch that is), so i can relate also to this! Ha-ha-ha!
At 1.80 (5’11″) I was a quite average woman when I lived in NL – couldn’t see over a crowd
I agree, I have almost the same experience as a 1.80 high woman
But a lot of my female familymembers are taller or will become taller (are still growing).
Yeah me too!! I’m 6ft 2 inches and I always get comments about my height!
It is so funny being 1.78 metres, female, and walking around in Italy. Those people are ridiculously short, quite usefull for seeing over crowds.I’m quite tall even for a dutch girl, but guys tend to be taller than me. Not in Italy though.
…but is not so funny being an Italian (short) guy in the Netherlands!
Nor a short Asian guy in Holland.
I am a 1.85 meters Italian guy living in the Netherlands… Is there any way I can help you to reconsider your “ridiculous” comment?
Hi
And didn’t you feel ridiculous yourself walking between them??? It’s all a matter of point of view…
I love tall blond Dutch guys!!!! yum!
haha
Being 1.70 metres makes me short, but I don’t complain, because I do fit in airplane seats, I don’t have to watch out with low ceilings and so on.
1.88 meters and enjoying the fact that I can find my friends in a crowd. And I’m not ridiculously big anyway
Eat that, small people! Oh, the pic that goes with this post was taken in the subway in Tokyo… haha
Being an Englishman married to a Dutch woman this means I always have to look up when we are talking
I have 2 sons who are 2.04 cm ! And one of them is still single..
I will gladly take him off your hands!
I’m mostly Dutch, and I went to college with mostly Dutch kids, so I felt normal. I’m not that tall for a female, but it was strange to move to the East Coast (USA) and look down at most of the men. I love how my 6-ft.-tall Dutch niece embraces her height!
how tall are dutch women on average? are they as tall on average as US men are on average? crazy.
i think dutch women under 30 are averaging around 5ft8 while american males average 5ft9, so it’s close. anyone else have any more detailed information? its an interesting way to look at things. that would be wild if the shrinking americans would up with males shorter than average dutch females one day.
it is interesting but I don´t know too. But I heard that younger generation of women in Holland is very tall about 1,73 maybe 1,75 metres in average! Let´s found some informations in web, press and in science publications
So the message here is….drink your milk and eat you cheese if you want to be a taller person
.
However not too much otherwise you will bump your head…..
I am 1.72 metres and I enjoy visiting the Netherlands because I am no longer the tallest person in a room (so it seems). In Canada most of my friends are shorter than me, and I enjoy wearing heels, thank goodness I married a tall French boy.
Sadly, I have arrived too late in my adult life to consume the height bearing amounts of dairy! I struggle living here on a daily basis being only 1.57m. And finally had to vent about it via post: http://rbfreezeframe.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/vertically-challenged-in-the-tallest-country-in-the-world/. But at least I have no problems on the airplane!
I’m Dutch, and I don’t belong into the tall-category. I am relatively short, and not complaining at all. Especially when sitting in an airplane it has it advantages.
I’m Dutch and I’m only 163cm, it’s my Dutch parents’ fault. They are only 157cm and 180cm.
It’s not much fun at popconcerts and in the cinema but on airplanes I’m fine!
Dutch guy here, 184 cm tall so I guess im your average dutch bloke
I blame drinking milk in my case. Lots of milk 
Hey im dutch 14 years joung and a respecteble 1.76M, not bad right?
anyway did you already talk about the dutch being 44% atheist.
we are the 14th most atheist country in the world.
Hey, i’m dutch 14 yrs old and 1,84 M , Not bad right
1.93 and I don’t feel very tall. I think people in the northern and western parts of the country are taller than the east and the south.
I’m a 176 cm women. My youngest son is 14 yrs old and 176 cm, my 16 yr-old is 190 cm and my 18 yr old is 195 cm. I love walking down the street with them. Beanstalks I call them, lol
My children and I are Canadian of Dutch immigrants. My parents were unusually short for being Dutch; however, my children are all quite tall. In fact, my daughter, who is almost 6 ft. tall found it strange after attending a school where most of the kids were of Dutch descent and tall and is now attending college with a diverse cultural mix and feels that she towers over most of the girls and some of the guys there.
Half-Dutch and normal American height (5’8″, 173 cm), I can relate. I went to a Dutch-American high school and could never see down the hallways. My “little” brother got the Dutch height genes and had no problems.
I recently went to Romania, and while being quite short in the Netherlands (at 1m78 or 5’10”) I felt like a giant strolling through Bucharest. Let alone a friend of mine, reaching 2m02 (or 6’7.5”).
Even when I cross the border into Germany the difference in mean height is quite noticeable.
My mum is somewhat shorter than 1m60 (5’3”), yet during a visit to the town of San Cristóbal de las Casas in Mexico even she felt tall. For that afternoon, that is.
Andrei
I’m 1.71m long and a dutch female. In the Netherlands I was normal, here where I am now at this moment, my legs are too long when I’m sitting in the bus! My knees will hit the chair in front of me! I never had that before!
Actually Dutch people weren’t tiny a few centuries ago. Because of the soft and moist soil here the buildings sink down into the soil. With flooding floors and cellars it was necessary to make the floors higher so they wouldn’t flood. Do this for a few centuries and you get tiny doors and ceilings.
Still, they were smaller then we are now of course.
Greetings from a Dutch guy, 1.98m (about 6’5″ I think).
True, and doors were very expensive at that time, so people rather bought a small door than one they could walk through standing. Yeah, we Dutch people are thrifty bastards!
1.77 and a woman btw, so I can relate to this too!
I think you are right. I am in the US, I just met a guy online who lives in the Netherlands and he is 1.96. I think that is about 6′ 4″ tall. He is also very cute, bald, intelligent. I am
5′ 2″ and we are using a camera and mic to play boyfriend and girlfriend online. We have fun with eachother. (Tall is beautiful)
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Yeah!!!you see lot’s of them so tall and so full of shit
you spell like a redneck too
Well, I already had reached the height of 1,91 cm when I was 10 years old.. It ended in 1,93 cm. Fun thing is that I don’t really feel that big, because the average among people 18-25 years old, is like 1,90 cm or so. It’s really sick.
I don’t like milk, but I am still a women with the lenght of 1,70,
So Dutch-like tall. Maybe it’s also cheese?
I’m Dutch and tall. Taller then the average man. I’m 1.86
And I’m happy about it. Even took those pills they mentioned. Imagine how tall I would’ve been if I hadn’t…
I am 196cm and very happy about it. Just a bit taller then most tall Dutch guys;). Shorter people usually bump their head because they dont know when to watch out:) My tallest girlfriend was 186cm:) I have a rule the girls head has to at least come above my shoulders;) When I was growing every day I had 0,5L milk with me to school, but the main reason I think I am tall is because my mother is 180cm. (Dont know why she is big;))
1.98 and never liked milk, and never had it in big amounts. Only chocolate milk every now and then. I blame the diet in general. Lots of variety and a mix of different kitchens are common here.
This is funny to read! With 1.60 m I’m the shortest of the whole family (grandmother included). Today I walked in to a parking garage and a warning sign set let op uw hoofd 1.90m (watch your head 1.90) This obviously was here in the Netherlands! As I read it realized many of my male friends would indeed bump their heads.
I’m 5 ft 10 inches (that means about 1,78 m) and dutch female. I don’t think it’s the dairy because I’m lactose intolerant
AND both my parents are very short, so that can’t be it either!
I’m an asian guy and lived my whole life in the Netherlands … and I’m hitting 1.78 which is huge compared to my continental counterparts. Blame it on the Diary, Potatoes, Bacon and Pindakaas (peanutbutter).
I’m a 184 cm (72.4 inches) tall Dutch female, so can relate! But I’m also considered quite tall for Dutch standards tho
I blame it on my tall parents!
Oh and by the way, I’m still very frustrated by the fact that we are indeed the tallest people on the planet, but it is still quite impossible to find a pair of nice womens jeans that are 36″ long!
I’m german/belgian and living in The Netherlands, I’m 5 foot, I can’t reach the higher shelves in the shops, when sitting on dutch chairs my feet dangle and in public toilets I can’ t see myself in the mirror. My children grew up in the Netherlands and they are 1,75 (the boys), 1,64 and 1,46 – the two girls ( all grown-up) despite drinking lots of milk and eating lots of cheese. So where does that leave all the theories.
Is it really true that the chairs in the netherlands are higher than in the US. how tall are typical doorways there? are they higher than the standard 80 inches in the US? i’m wondering because i will be visiting soon and i’m nervous about standing out as being super short. i’m 4ft11. if i walk around there in flats am i literally going to be so much shorter than dutch women that i get stared at the way a 6ft4 woman would in the US?
No one will stare although you are quite short for Dutch standards.My mom is 157cm and we always tease her how short she is but no one stares. (You are about 150cm). I know lots of Dutch women that are shorter than 170cm.
Standard doors are 201,5cm or 211,5cm high, with the latter becoming more and more standard in new buildings.
Thanks for the reply Anna. i generally tend to wear heels because i’m so short but i want to be comfortable walking around there so i also want to bring lots of flats. but seeing all this talk about women being 180cm and taller made me wonder if i’d feel self conscious walking around there at only 150cm in flats? even your mom who you mention is a good deal taller than me, and even just 170 cm is super tall from where i stand!
At 4ft11 in flats I’d say it’s possible you would get a few stares as you’re a full head shorter than a dutch woman of just average height.
Standard door height was 2,015 cm (about 80″) but building codes now require 2,315 m (91″).
Yeah I’m thinking that since Dutch women are about 4 inches taller than US women on average, i will feel quite short, since I already feel very short even here in the US when I’m in flats. If I decide to but shoes (like pumps) when I’m there do you think I’ll have trouble finding them? I’m a US size 5, which is I think is a size 35 there. What do you think?
No one will stare at your for being short. NL and especially Amsterdam is quite multi-cultural and there are plenty of shorter women around, it’s nothing special. Shoe sizes usually start at 36, I think, but I might be wrong. I would recommend you to be comfortable over “fashionably tall” if you’re going to be walking and sightseeing all day!
(I am in fact a tall Dutch woman at 1.80/6 feet – and having travelled extensively to “the lands of the short people” (ie. everywhere outside of NL), I know what being stared at feels like! But I don’t think you have to worry. Maybe some people will think: “aww, aren’t you cute.”
sarah, is there really a noticeable difference in height once you leave your area? also, at 6ft you are tall, but i wouldn’t think tall enough to generate a very high amount of stares. how often do you see women taller than you in your area?
I am a woman, and want to move to Holland, but I am only 5ft 1 (155cm). I am now worried about being trodden on! (Or stared at. Or put in a circus.)
Well being German / Belgian might have influenced that…;) must be tough to live in The Netherlands…
I’m 189cm, indeed not really special here.
1.92 here. Got kicked in the pants a lot. That may have helped
I´m 2.06 meters and Dutch. So this rule totally applies to me
”
Last may I went to Canada on a School Exchange and there everyone stared at me and said:”OMG, how come your so tall?” and I was like:”Uhhhm, just grow
Has it advantages (basketball,soccer,jumping, reaching things) but definetly has its dis-advantages too… like(sitting in car or plane, being agile, small beds on holidays :@)
Being a short Irish-American (1.64 m) and single sucks in the Netherlands. I have a very hard time meeting single women here who don’t tower over me. I should have taken that job in Asia…
My Dutch husband is 202 cm as well and it’s just too damned tall. He barely fits in any car to drive and no one can sit behind him because the seat has to be all the way back. He doesn’t fit on airplanes. We have to go to specialty shoe stores and pay quite a lot for each pair of shoes. He doesn’t fit on hotel beds (his feet hang off the end). He has had knee and back problems his whole life from it. We do have a nice collection of photos from our travels of where he does not fit (things like elevators and bathrooms in other countries).
I’m only 162cm and our children are on a projected course to tower over me.
My dad is 6 foot 6 (slightly over 2 meters), excessively tall for an American. He definitely has to incline his head when he goes through doors. He was an officer in the American navy for twenty years, and when he ported in Amsterdam, he said that there were at least 5-6 other Dutch at the officers club his height or taller. He said it was the most unusual experience for him – not being unusually tall!
Try living in Asia as 6 feet tall Dutch girl. I miss my heels so much (used to wear them all the time back home)
especially in elevators it can be quite oncomfortable with guys on breast height.
Hello! I’m pure Black and I’m a little taller than average Dutchmen,Danish/Swedish folk too. My stature is 190cm and so are my siblings around (.188-197). I’m not a particular fan of milk/dairy products as well.
I’m 15 and almost 1.80 m, and I’m a bit longer then my friends, just a little bit. But here in the Netherlands, everything is made for the dutch people! It’s really funny to be on vacation and see all these small people XD
I have a similar question to Rachel’s. I’m 4ft10, or 147 cm. Especially if I wore flats, would I stand out as being so short in the Netherlands that I might get stares or comments from people asking how tall I am?
There are people in the Netherlands (especially the large cities) from every nation in the world. Many of them are shorter than average (including me). Even those who are born in the Netherlands but have ancestry in other nations tend to be shorter, because they continue to eat the diet of their culture. So you won’t really stand out that much.
I really don’t think it’s necessarily the diet or food alone that makes most dutch people (or any other ethnic group of people) that much taller than others. The diet may be a big part of it, for example if someone has eating disorders or any kind of malnutrition, health problems or diseases as a child or teenager when they’re still growing they may not grow as tall as they would if they were eating healthy and “normal” through their entire childhood and adolescence or if they were healthy in general.
The biggest effect on human height is in fact genes and height is often inherited by children straight from both parents. For example, I am female 28 years old and my mother is about 156-157 cm tall and my father is about 178cm. I’m right between their heights at about 167 cm.
Now if both parents are quite short it’s not very likely the children will be tall either…no matter how much milk or cheese they eat as they’re growing up! Your height just can’t be explained by looking at only the food you eat. Most people in Asian countries are short. It’s a part of their ethnic/genetic heritage. There are always exceptions to the rule of course, but they are more rare. My mothers side of the family are generally quite short. Only one of her 5 brothers is over 180 cm. He towers over all the others. He’s the exception in the family. The shortest of her brothers is just about my height. It’s a family and genes thing mostly. I think height is made too much of an issue. We are all different, different weights, different ethnicities and cultures…and different heights. Not everyone can be average height and shouldn’t be teased or whatever if they’re NOT “average”. Maybe I have had it “easy” because here where live I AM average height for a woman, but for me height is not that big of an issue. The only way I could change my natural height is by wearing high heeled shoes. People need to accept that not everyone fits into the mould of average height or average anything else either.
Elaine, since Dutch women are about 3 inches taller than american women on average, you would probably feel the same height as you’d feel in your own city if you were 4ft7. so just crouch down about 3 inches and that should help prepare you.
Maggie, I’m answering your question about my height abroad here since I didn’t find a reply button with your comment: In Holland indeed I am considered tall but not extremely so, though I still get comments when I wear my heels (which I refuse not to wear). In my generation I was one of the obvious tall girls, but the next generation has caught up with me and I become less and less conspicuous and more average. However, I’ve lived in the UK and in the USA, and was and always have been the tallest girl around (heck, my nickname used to be “the tall girl”), and usually even the tallest person around including the men (awkward for dating!). I think after 1 year in the UK I met perhaps 2 girls who matched me for height. I remember being in the US with my family when I was 18, my 2 meter tall brother 17, and visiting a themepark. Waiting in an area with a few hundred people for a next show, my brother was the tallest person there. I noticed that everyone included, I was the second tallest. People there used to ask my parents what they fed us (I used to joke “chicken with growth hormones”). These past few years I’ve travelled South America and Asia: Especially Asia I am continuously stared at and am consistently asked to pose for pictures with people who don’t reach higher than my chest. I don’t mind: I take pictures of them too.
I used to mind this when I was younger and dating, but now I am quite comfortable with my height. Top shelves here I come!
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Those low ceilings in the canalhouses weren’t because of the height of the people.. but because of the prices of windowmaking and the function of the rooms. Although the length of the dutch was different in the 1600′s, it cannot be a conclusion deducted from the heights of the interieur of the buildings..
I’m a Dutch girl, 1.84m, and I didn’t get it from my parents, maybe I’m from “de melkboer”, hahaha!
Hahaha, same here! Some tall milk-man must have been hitting on my mom;-) My mother is 1.61 m and my dad 1.72 m. I’m 1.80 m and a little bit taller than most of my female friends. Love to wear my high heels though!
I am 1.84m, my ex-husband is 2.03m and it seems my kids (5 and 3,5 yrs) will be very tall too. I still wear high heels and am proud of my height!
nothing funny about being Dutch when you live abroad and find that all pants are always 10 cms missing at the bottom!
Awesome to see many tall people around on the site!
I am freakishly tall for a woman, even in the Netherlands. At 1m89 I stand a tall 6ft2, try finding pants at that height…
It’s great for sports though
Luckily the love of my live is even taller, at 2m07 or 6ft8 he still towers over me.
I’m belgian and 6’1
I always had trouble finding boyfriends that were taller, or even of equal height… until I started dating dutch guys :p.
This is so true! I felt extremely tall when I lived in England. Back in Holland I am still one of the tallest, but not that exceptional. 191cm (6ft 2inches), as a Dutch female! =)
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I’m a tall guy, even by Dutch standards. 2m04 and experiencing the problems of living in a country where average doorheights (is that correct English?) are about 2m02 (yes, I’ve bumped my head more than once).
Finding clothes that fit isn’t difficult. Finding affordable clothes that fit, that’s the big challenge. Some may find a shirt that costs € 85,00 “affordable” but my paycheck disagrees
Visiting countries such as Greece, Argentina, Portugal etc., I never really noticed being extremely tall, but the locals always seem to think they have to remind me that they’re not that tall… Always asking about my length. Like they’d appreciate me asking every little Greek person “hey, how small are you?”
My only real discomfort being this tall however, is in amusement parcs. As a “big”
fan of fast rollercoaster rides, I can’t understand why these parcs build exciting new attractions with a length-restriction: people over 1m95 are not allowed on the ride! This means I can’t even accompany my little daughter on these rides and she is not yet tall enough to ride alone.
Is there already a “meldpunt” for length-discrimination?
As someone just 170cm and enjoys being in the netherlands one of my best friends there is 211cm who just loves the attention he gets! I live in wales where its rare to see anyone over 193cm..just to say the dutch are the nicest people on earth so feel free to email mjones5833@hotmail.com
According to the British Medical Journal, the most widely held theories on the excessive height of the Dutch are:
1. since the country is so flat, the tallest human predators could observe their prey more easily than shorter predators, so naturally the taller organisms predominated from natural selection,
and
2. being such a low country, the frequent flooding has tended to eliminate the shorter specimens from the gene pool.
stupid answer… sorry for your
I hope you are joking…otherwise your knowledge of science and natural selection is piss poor
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A 1.75m woman here… my Turkish ex didn’t allow me to wear heels because I’d be bigger than him
oh the pain of being tall! Hahaha
Yes.. we Dutch are tall but SO WHAT? Just came back from California, goss I never expected the Californians so short! Women AND Men. The fact that we are tall is genetic plus a fact of a prosperious country, good nutrition, stable environment. If you go to the Emirates for example you see that the people are also tall. By the way this blog is funny to read as a Dutch some things are exagirated and clearly taken from an American point of view, but never mind keep on the good work.
Genetics, nutrition, habits, sea breeze, star gazing… The Dutch always want to know what their neighbours have for dinner. And how about some conspiracy theory? How do abortion, the infant mortality rates and liberal euthanasia relate to body height? Creepy stuff if you ask me.
I’m a 1,83 m American with some Dutch in my heritage, in the place where I live I’m rather average among my friends who have a good amount of Irish heritage but most of the other people around here are terribly short. Most of the women from around here are 1,64 m and a lot of the men aren’t too much taller.
You’d think with all those tall people, the standard sizes for things like public transport would also be bigger. But nooo. Ever tried sitting in the Randstadrail at 1.80m with your 1.87m dad sitting opposite of you? There is no freaking room! And those trams are really new too. I hate having to constantly stub my knees. D:
Also tall people suffer from back problems more easily. The human body is not really made for it..
We are only tall because we live beneath the sea-level. So when the Great Flood comes, we still can keep our heads dry and survive.
I come from Sweden, i’m 13 years and 188cm tall
My dad is 205 cm tall and was 172cm when he was 13. So i guess that i will become pretty tall… 
not all dutch people are tall, I’m 153 centimeters and I know more people of that height
Yes, I am a 6”9′ 16 y.o. dutch guy.
But for basketball its very handy.
Im only 5’4 , do dutch women hate short guys? my asset is intelligence and my extensive knowledge about dutch stuff (cheese , politics etc)? i know every girl is different but whats the perception in general
Sorry mate, the general consensus is that (Dutch) women prefer a guy taller then they are.
I’m a 16 years old girl and I’m already 176 cm. Thanks to the cheese and milk!
It doesn’t have anything to do with dairy products. I’m a women from the Netherlands and I have been lactose-intolarant for my whole life (just as at least 5 of my friends) and we average a hight of 6 ft 9 inch (me being te smallest at 6ft 1 inch as a women) and the tallest being my boyfriend of 7ft 2 inches. it has more to do with our habit of eating good and healthy foods such as fruit and vegtables on a daily basis then dairy.
Lol. My boyfriend is dutch and at 1.94, his comment when he got to my place here in Chile was WHY IS THE TOILET SO SHORT!? lmao. I’m 1.80 myself (insanely tall in this country) and never thought of that
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I’m a 6.1 ft tall woman with a 6.1 ft tall US (California) husband. A few weeks ago I was standing in line, wearing my high heels and overlooked about 30 people standing in that same line. I felt like a giraffe!!
People always say we’ll have “monsterkids” because we’re both this tall.. Ah well..
I’m a 19 year old with thick Dutch blood, and i’m 6″5′, while my 15 year old sister is 6″1′. Its good being tall, but living in Australia, it gets tedious hearing people’s opening lines of “wow, your tall” when you first meet them.
Hmm, I googled “growth hormones” followed by various Dutch food sources, such as “cows,” “pigs,” “potatoes,” and lastly, “cabbage.” Here’s a link to “The Health Benefits of Cabbage,” which surprise surprise, is a vegetable which boosts up our bodies’ production of growth hormones!!! Mmm… My nice tall cabbage…. Isn’t it “mon petit chou” in French? (Term of endearment – “my little cabbage…)
http://www.elements4health.com/cabbage.html
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I am from the northern part of the Netherlands. Being only 1.81cm I am considered short. I fact i am the shortest of all my cousins. I jokingly call myself the dwarf of the family.
I’m 6’5 and I’m the tallest in my class
not all Dutch are really that tall ………
The Dutch are FAR too tall. There are too many crowd events where all I got to see was some blond giant’s shoulders. The EU should start handing out free cigarettes and vodka to pregnant women so their kids will be reduced to the EU average.
I looked it up and the avarage is 1.67 for women and 1.88 for men… But of course most people are taller than this, for example I’m 1.73 myself as a woman.
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Ive always remembered an Australian guy asking me: Do you know why Dutch people are so tall? ……….They need to keep above sea level.
That’s ritch, lol
I like that one
I came back from Amsterdam a few days ago and was impressed with so many tall people there! I consider high growth as sign of good health and well being. You are really beautiful!
Cheers
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Dutch people aren’t tall, the rest of the world is just short.
wow this is SO true im a girl im 5’4 and a half and im only starting 6th grade my dad is 6’3 my opa is 6’1 or something and on the other side he is like 6’6 !! my mom is like 5’8 and my oma is like 5’6 on both sides. i feel speciAl dude
Yep, I’m 6 ft 7″ which is 2.02m approx. Working in education I see more and more young guys getting taller every year. Interesting to see, but where does it ends?
hey..,are u really 6ft7??thats crazy.,i’m just 5ft11,.,where are you from?can u plz tell me some proven way to grow some inches up
what amazes me is that field hockey is among their favorite sports. one of the few sports that height is a disadvantage. so, they play bended in half. they could be the best in the world in basketball, especially the women.
and going to a concert is always fun here. i have never been in a concert and not in the front line. due to their height, its terrible to be in the back, but you can easily slide between them to the front
I also heard, that average height of the younger generation of dutch women is around 1.75 metres, (5 ft 9 inches). And 14 years old girls are 5 feet 8,5 (1.74 m) But it sounds unbelievable, can you imagine it?
)) Have you found some informations about it (web or press)
Hey guys!i’m from nepal(asian) the country of mt.everest and lord buddha
..,i’m 180cm(abt 5’11).,and the average male height here is 5ft5 while female are of 5ft0 inches..,but nowadays most of the guys tend to be around 6ft.,so what will you all suggest us to grow further tall?and till which age we can grow taller?
I suddenly feel realy little as a Dutch 5″5 tall girl! Though i feel quite averadge when standing in public!
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I’m 6′ 7″ and I’m going to make it a point to travel to Holland to see these “Giant Dutch” people.
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Being 1,94 meters, as a 16-year-old Dutch boy, it’s quite funny when you go to southern countries in the holidays. That’s when for a moment, you are the tallest person in that country, because they are so tiny (like Spain and Italy).
Wow. I’m actually kind of offended, we aren’t that lanky.
But I guess it’s a better than being the most obese country.
which is america, correct? i live here, and it’s so sad. it’s either i see many afflicted with the obesity issue, or many who struggle–whether seen visible, ie being soo skinny, or just their mindset–with trying to be stick-figures! i literally had a girl at the gym tell me i was lucky i was “so skinny”! what an odd thing to say, i think, and the way society exalts thinness as beauty yet pushes these disgusting foods into consumer diets baffles me. mexico is second place, and has much to do with the GMO’s in corn and the big US co’s that endorse such horrid establishments all for money.. Earth’s people make me very confused sometimes..
Being 2,10 meters myself, I’m considered tall even for Dutch standards, going as far as having to crouch a bit when giving a hug to a family member. But when I was abroad in Egypt for a Vacation i really noticed how tall Dutch people can be, seeing as my whole family “towered” above the people there. But yeah, being the tallest country in the world is certainly not a bad thing
On the other hand, you can never get work as a hobbit “extra” on LOTR.
Hey I am Asian, I am 18 y.o and I am 175 cm. I am quite tall for Asian and for girls in my home country I even couldn’t wear my heels cus the boys are short also. when I moved to Netherlands I feel comfort to wear heels and see lot of people taller than me.
i wonder though if there is some inherent preference for taller girls in NT since they tend to be taller…? i dunno, this sounds like a stupid question now that i ask it since its so superficial, but as a 5’6 girl… just average.. and thinking bout traveling there, i’d definitely not want to feel like a squat, ungraceful thing next to these super tall chicks. i hope i grow but as i’m turning 17 in five days, i doubt it. anyways, interesting article/comments! cant believe there’s guys out there that are over 200 cm tall and not too out of norm. go to Mexico or something and you’d be look at like a giant!
I am Chinese Height 1.83（我是中国人身高1.83）
the study was saying it is relating to the amount of cows in a country. what do you think we giving the cows for food. quit a lot of grow hormones (cheaper
. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, and we all know how much dairy we intake from milk and cheese in the morning till a piece of meat in the evening!…. I’m only not sure how much we eat from our own cow’s, i HEARD we sell our meat to Italy and import it from Scotland (picky about the fat)…
I’m 5’11 average hight women is
5’7 im from usa im dutch black irish fun to figure out ur hertiage traits:)
I am dutch and I’m 14 years old and 1.90 m (6’3) and I am not even the tallest in my class
My mom is American and we often travel to the States. There everybody is staring at me and ask me how tall I am! My father and my mother are also shorter than me.
I’m only 5″3 (1,60) so I don’t represent my country very well.
I make up for it by mixing the chocolate crunch with a cheaper variety.
I’m only 5’3 (1,60) so I don’t represent my country very well height-wise.
I make up for it by mixing the chocolate crunch with a cheaper number.
I’m only 4 ft 11 inches I was always small. I am the smallest in my family. I am 19 and I have a 13 year old cousin thats taller than me. My family members always make fun of me because I’m so small. At times I hate being smallbecause I can’t reach high stuff but I embrace being small. And I love tall guys my last bf was 6’2
.
i’m 15 years and 172cm,the tallest girl in my class;im not dutch though
Indeed, I am a 183 cm dutch man but have very short legs for my size – I should be another 5 cm or so . Orange bove!
Going to Asia as a “purebreed” Dutch guy is fun. I average out at 182 cm but with a quite remarkable shoulderwidth (boxing). When visiting Asia some people came up to me, stared up (literally) and said I looked like a superhero. It was awesome. I never felt so safe walking any street, and the girls smiling at me (then ducking away when I looked).
And then the cold realization when you return, get off at Amsterdam Central and you’re nothing special anymore…
At 180 cms or 5 ft 9 I was always a bit on the short side of average in NL. And then I went to Ecuador. One day went to see a mass in a village church. Everyone knelt down, and so did I. I towered over everyone and felt them staring. I noticed a very short woman in front of me, and watched as she stood up: I still could see over her!
It was very cramped in buses and I noticed especially the indiginous people were a lot shorter than the others. (They were discriminated against very badly as well)
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It’s definitely contagious. I have friend who is was born there and he’s Chinese, but he’s almost 1.90 m tall!
I’m a Dutch girl and only 162 cm (5’3) “tall” and all my friends always joke about me being so short. Well, I’m happy with my height, at least I fit in small places like air planes and trains, but it can be annoying when there are so many tall people around you in a crowded place!
As a teenager I can relate to this. At school most of my mates (including me) are 6ft 4inches!! If I walk on the Dam it is like walking amongst little people (especially asians).
Then why are we so bad at Basketball or Volleyball? Our football stars are not known for being tall. (Wesley Sneijder is only 1.70 and the tallest in the team is van Persie measuring 1.86) Tall kids should start to play Basketball/Volleyball and will be very successful.
Its not just the Dutch from the Netherlands though…I live in a somewhat insulated American Dutch community and we all have the same height stats a hundred years away from living in the Netherlands
Kate, my Mom is from Holland, MI and she was the shortest growing up in her family of sisters at 5’9″ (feet and inches for you metric folk). My aunts and some of my girl cousins are over six feet tall. My brothers and boy cousins are six one through six four. I’m short at five eight!
I believe this is because genetically, whether well- or poorly-fed in their own time and place, Dutch people have the CAPACITY to grow really tall and heavy-boned, and probably are uniquely able to metabolize milk and beef among world ethnic groups. You give a lot of people lots of milk and beef, they get lactose-intolerant or get heart disease early. You give Dutch people milk and beef and we grow.
The Michiganders I came from originated from Drenthe in 1846, which I understand had a reputation for “growing them big” even among other Nederlanders back then. I think once those genetically-gifted boviphages came to North America, where there was room to pasture even MORE COWS (my Mom has ricketty fingers due to nutritional shortages during the Depression, but even she got to eat ice cream three or four times a day on top of all the milk and cheese). So here we Dutch types grew EVEN BIGGER.
My mom is now 82 and her extremely large frame has provided health setbacks as well as health benefits. When they chart her BMI, they have to use the statistics from the male side, because she is so physically large. But her muscles have wasted, meaning that her limbs are too heavy for her to lift. It’s not just height: my lower ribcage is 38 inches around even with all my breath expelled, even when I am lean enough to feel every rib. When I inhale, my chest expansion is four inches. I weigh almost 190 pounds and at five eight I am not fat. People think I am in the 140s, but it’s all bone weight.
My husband is Asian, and from a large family. Interestingly, the only sibling born on American soil, who grew up drinking milk, grew up to be 5′ 9″. Yet since switching to an American diet, the men now all have gout and my husband became diabetic when he was a lean, low-carb eating 42-year-old. So standard American nutrition, with its roots in beef and dairy cultures of northern europe probably is not good for 95 percent of us on the globe (and in modern America).
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My parents were both born in the Netherlands, but met in the USA. My dad is 6’1″ & my mom is 5’8″ & I am 5′ 11″. I have been tall all of my life, taller than my older brother. My younger brother is 6’5″. there is a fair amount of tall Dutch people in Michigan, USA.
Dutch boy living in Australia, i reached 181cm at 11 years when puberty started and finally stopped at 196cm at 17 years old, Married a New Zealand girl who is normal height but the Dutch genes are powerful – my kids are all 120% + on the growth charts for kids.
The dutch are not the tallest, I am from the UK i’m in my 40s, female and i’m 5ft 10, my sister is also 5ft 10, my mum is 5ft 6 and feels short compared to most people. If 5ft 6 is average for a dutch female, its no taller than average here. My dad is 6ft 1, his 4 brothers are all over 6ft tall. In my last year at school there were two girls taller than me, both were 6ft 2, and many girls were my height 5ft 10, or slightly less. When i was dating at age 18, all the men i dated were 6ft tall or more, i didnt know of any guys shorter than me. Ive been married to a 6ft 1 man for 20 years, and even he says he feels short when he goes out in a crowd, most guys are taller than him. The UK average for women is supposed to be 5ft 4, which is wrong. Even my 5ft 10 sisters friends are mostly her height. And when i go out i dont feel terribly tall i feel average and sometimes even short in a crowd of men and women, and this is in the UK. If you measure true british people you will find the average height is much higher, many of the people measured in the UK are from other countries with a lower average height, which brings the average down. British people that have british ancestors are mostly tall. The dutch average for men and women, is the same as for the UK, and has been for at least the past 30 years.
I;m a dutch male at 1.81 (6 ft i think) and I feel really short. I really think I got something like a small short man syndrome or something. I find myself overaggresive towards tall guys (tall in holland is about 1.95 or 6ft 5 i think), not that I will start a fight or something, but I just sometimes imagine that they feel themselves superior compared to me and that pisses me off..
I think it’s because my dad is 2.00 meters tall (6ft 7) and I do a lot of kickboxing, most of the guys in my weightclass tower over me (im fairly heavy for my lenght with 84 kilos).
God I wish i was a few centimeters taller..
By the way I drank tons of milk and ate lots of cheese when I was young (still do) And I have a tall dad so I guess that hypothesis is incorrect.
I am a six 6 ft 5 inches 47 year old Dutch male living abroad and when I visit the Netherlands I suddenly seem to be of normal height. The young generation males are averaging my height with many one or two inches taller
I’m the smallest from a family of giants, my dad being 6 feet tall, my mother and sister 6″2 and my brother taking the crown with a shocking 7 feet while I am only 5,9 but I am still smaller than most of my dutch friend, My foreign friends (especially the women) are far smaller than I am which I always found odd since in high school I was one of the smaller girls! (BTW I’m from the high north where the dutchies are bred even taller!