I just read that the average height for American men is 5’9″, however, this is not my experience at all since most American men (mostly White and Black men through) I met here in Thailand seems to be arond 5’10”-5’11” and it’s not uncommon to see men over 6’2″ among them too.
Where as Europeans seem to be more unformly around the average height in their countries, for example the average height for Dutch men is 6’0″ and most Dutch men I met are also around that height or taller, same with German men (5’11”), British men (5’9″), French men (5’9″) etc. I know there are both tall and short people in every country, but I feel like the variation in heights is greater for Americans…
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Immigration
Diversity
We don’t share a common gene pool
You don’t understand how an ethnically diverse society works.
Because diversity through immigration
It’s possible, although I wouldn’t have expected it to be that pronounced, that you’re experiencing a bias in sampling.
It’s documented that taller men in the US are more successful, because of some underlying bias that tall people…are successful. Over 30 years, a 6’0″ man earns $166k more than a man at 5’5″. Since you live in Thailand, it’s possible that the taller men in the US are more likely to be able to take expensive trips to Asia.
It’s because you are all very very very genetically similar. I’ll let you figure out how that happens on your own. Roll Tide!
Because Americans descend from everywhere and your experience isn’t statistically relevant.
Probably loads more ethnic diversity than Europe.
For example I’m around 4’11 which is a height I see more commonly in Hispanic and Asian women, than I do white women (who call me very short). I’d imagine people thinking I’m extremely short if I went to Europe.
Immigration and diversity, for every taller American there’s also a shorter American.
Diet, genetics, and immigration are all factors.
Diversity but also
Nutritional diversity. This isn’t just a poverty thing but some families do a much better job of giving young children diverse and healthy food.
All references I see put the average height of American males at 5’10” with a standard deviation of 3″. So, anywhere between 5’7″ and 6’1″ is normal (statistically).
By comparison, the Dutch men average (as you say) at 6’0″ with a standard deviation of 4″. So, even for them, anywhere from 5’8″ to 6’4″ is normal (statistically).
Americans are ethnically diverse and not homogeneous like Euros.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-height-by-country
Mexico, Indonesia, El Salvador and Guatemala are amongst the 5-10 highest countries US receives immigrants from (both legal and illegal). They are also bottom half of the average height list worldwide with Indonesia and Guatemala being among the shortest nations in the world.
We’re very ethnically diverse
We’re a very diverse population with a big gene pool and enough resources for people to grow to their max height.
Because Europeans (and other countries) have had the same genetic pool for millennia. It’s the same reason people can tell what country a person comes by their looks. People from Thailand are pretty easy to pick out.
The US has a mixture of people from around the world who end up dating and marrying, and having kids. My good tall friend is married to a short Japanese woman. His kids are short. I have another black friend who is married to a midwestern Caucasian. His kids are all well over 6 feet tall.
Because, unlike insular European countries, we are a nation of immigrants, from literally every, single corner of the world. I daresay you could find at *least* one representative from every nation and even many of the thousands of tribes, for those people who identify their heritage that way, living in the United States. So *any* uniformity here (except maybe the uniformity of non-uniformity) would be amazing.
The more I talk with europeans, the more clear it becomes to me that they grossly overestimate the genetic/ethnic/ancestral homogenity of Americans (in that they assume it exists at all).
Because there are people here from all around the world?
I’m 5’9 and feel very average here, even amongst mostly white men
We have more genetic diversity
The USA is a nation of immigrants. The average height includes all the men of Dutch ancestry, Thai ancestry, English ancestry, Japanese ancestry, German ancestry, Mexican ancestry, etcetera.
How do you know this is really true?
Maybe the tall Europeans and short Americans wanted to travel somewhere else?
I’m sure your European education taught you that running into a very small group of people isn’t a good representation of anything, right?
We have a lot of immigrants. More variation in the gene pool.
America is very diverse compared to other countries
Genetics? Remember, a lot of us came from European ancestry.
So, you are asking what is the median, and what is the standard deviation.
>The average height of a random sample of 25 American adult males is found to be ¯x=69.72 x ¯ = 69.72 inches with a standard deviation of s=4.15. s = 4.15.
Europe? Hard to tell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_human_height_by_country
But, yes, looks like the SD is about 3 inches in the US, vs roughly 2 inches for most of Europe.
We are an immigrant country.