To think average height is not accurate?

[SleepDreamThinkHuge]

I think now in the UK you hear that average height for men is around 5'10. Surely it is likely to be less as average is not really representative of the whole male population? I do not understand why median is not used instead of average. Would you say the median height for men would be less in the UK around 5'9?

The same can be said about income as well median is also a better indicator.

Median for income is better because of the long thin tail of high earners at the top end which skews the mean.

Not sure why mean wouldn't be good enough for height though?
Presumably it is using fully grown men, and not boys?
Given that we might well be getting taller, I wonder if there is some generational aspect, so when they say 'average height for men' I wonder if thy are silently saying (age 20-35) under their breath?

My DH is ~5ft9 and he seems to be on the smaller side of men these days.

Very much depends on age. I was very tall when I was young (5 10) but now I’m frequently dwarfed by my DCs generation.

Still can’t get trousers long enough though!

Most people use the terms average/median synonymously though although they are of course very different

Most people use the terms average/median synonymously though although they are of course very different

Politicians use 'average' when they want to obfuscate whether they actually are using mean or median or mode. Especially when it comes to money issues such as pay.

Well there are more old people & you shrink as you age so different generations will be taller. Younger generations are taller but they've stopped gaining height I think.

I often see on MNs about all the dc are giants, however I live near a large secondary school & at 5ft 9 I'm taller than most of the girls. Although lots of people tell me I must be 6ft because they are 5ft 8!

Mean is generally only useful if the range of the data is quite small, ie if you have really big or really small values mean becomes pretty uninformative. I have no idea why people persist in using it! Average house price is one such example. It's only really useful as shorthand in tracking trends over time, but even then, a few massive values can throw it out.

Don't know about mean and mediun but they should update these averages frequently. I used to be taller than 99% of my friends (I'm 5ft 8 female) but now young women in their teens and early 20s tower over me! I don't feel tall anymore!

"It reports that in 2019 the tallest 19-year-old boys lived in the Netherlands (183.8cm or 6ft) and the shortest lived in Timor Leste (160.1cm or 5ft 3in).
Meanwhile the UK's global height ranking fell, with 19-year-old boys being 39th tallest in 2019 (1.78m or 5ft 10in) from 28th tallest in 1985."

"In the UK, 19-year-old boys had an average height of 178.2cm (5ft 10in), and girls 163.9cm (5ft 5in)."

Also the stats of older people will be artificially increasing the average height. 85 year old Dad is on record as being 5'10, as he was in his prime. He is now about 5'7. I don't know where they get figures from, but if from medical records then everyone over the age of about 60 will be decreasing, but seldom if ever remeasured

The number of newcomers to the country accounts in part for this, with first or second generations of immigrants being in general smaller than longer term residents.

I feel short if I go to the gym early and the changing room is full of teenaged girls. I was tall growing up (5’9).

Is the distribution is broadly symmetrical mean and median will be pretty close - which is true of height and not of income

Haha I get this too!! I’m 5 10 but I must be 6ft 2 because “I’m 5ft 10” according to male friend.

no, you are 5ft 7.

People are getting taller, so if it’s based on 19 year olds they are bound to be tall. I’m 5’7”, my boys’ dad is 5’9” - our sons are 6’2” and 6’1”. No-one else in our families is especially tall.

I was noticeably tall at school at 5ft 8 in the 90's/early 00's. Dd is going to be taller than me and is very average height in her year group. I'm glad she doesn't stand out like I did tbh.

@Anyfeckinusername literally by everyone. I guess a lot of people don't check their heights? At the doctors they don't often tell you & Ive been measured with shoes on.

My colleague is 6ft 4 (Danish) & it's noticeable how much taller he is vs everyone else.

This! I too am 5'8" and feel short.

I have 2 DS and a DH the shortest of whom is 6'2"

My youngest DS friends are all over 6' except one who is about 5'6"

where do all these tall people live? I'm in London, use public transport regularly, am around lots of young people & I'm still taller than most women & most men don't tower over me.

The only time I have felt short is when I did some modelling (I was crap) & most models were much taller than me.

In the Netherlands I felt average height wise.

Same experience here. Yesterday a woman joined me in a queue and was the same height as me - this almost never happens! I almost tapped her on the shoulder and commented 😂

maybe it was you 😂😂😂

I also think what you perceive will be affected by where you live.

I’m 5 7 and a half (yes the half matters, lol) where I’m from I was not tall, yes there were people smaller than me but lots of women my height and some taller and rarely were men not taller than me, I moved to the other side of the country and I’m taller than most women and men are often my height.

😆

Would using the median instead of the mean it make much of a difference with height? As long as you are only surveying fully grown adult men and are excluding men with a medical condition that means they are exceptionally short or tall (all the different kinds of dwarfism and giantism basically), then I wouldn’t expect there to be a big difference between the mean and the median. House prices or income are examples where a a smallish number of outliers could really skew the mean. But no one is 12 feet tall or 30 feet tall so the same problem just doesn’t exist for height, especially if you don’t include men with dwarfism or giantism in the sample.

I'm also interested in where all these giants are 🤔 DN is 5ft 9 and she towers over most of her friends.