Ranked as the ‘highest’ countries in the world – so where does Britain stand?

Those looking for a long-term romantic partner are in luck: Researchers have made an analysis that can speed up your search.

Data analyzed by the University of Oxford has revealed which country is most likely to have the tallest men and women.

Turkey is home to the tallest man in the world: Sultan Kosen, who is 2.50 meters tall, and the tallest woman, Rumeysa Gelgi, who is 2.20 meters tall.

But despite the towering figures of Mr Kosen and Ms Gelgi, Turkey does not have the highest average height.

That title goes to the Netherlands and Latvia, where the average tallest men and women in the world live.

Men born in 1996 in the European country are on average 182.54cm tall, the figures show – the equivalent of about 1.80 metres.

The shortest man ever, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, pictured with the world’s tallest man, Sultan Kosen (left). Jyoti Amge, the shortest woman, and Rumeysa Gelgi, the tallest woman (right)

While Dutch women measure 168.72 cm or 5ft 5.

Latvia is home to the tallest women with an average height of 169.80cm (5ft 5).

Men in the Northern European country rank fourth with a height of 181.42cm (5ft 9).

Great Britain is far behind in this regard the typical male Briton born in the same year measures 177.49 cm, or about 1.80 meters tall – 31st in the global height rankings.

British women are on average 164.40cm tall, which is around 1.80m tall – which is 38th on the rankings.

For comparison, men in the United States are approximately 177.13 cm (5ft 8) and women are 163.54 cm (5ft 3).

At the other end of the scale, East Timor, an island in Southeast Asia, is home to the smallest males, who average 159.79 cm tall.

Women in the Central American country of Guatemala are among the smallest in the world, with an average height of 149.39 cm – about 1.20 meters.

Elevation data, shared by Our World in Data, a University of Oxford-backed platform, is available for all 195 countries and involves millions of participants.

The results were calculated by dividing the sum of total lengths by the male population. The same method was used to calculate the average height of the female population.

The Our World in Data team shared their results, writing: ‘Poor nutrition and illness in childhood limit human growth.

‘As a result, the average height of a population is strongly correlated with the standard of living in a population.

‘This makes the study of height relevant for historians who want to understand the history of living conditions.’

But height cannot be used as a direct measure of well-being. Researchers believe that individual height is largely determined by genetic factors.

After the Netherlands, Belgium (181.70 cm), Estonia (181.59 cm), Latvia (181.42 cm) and Denmark (181.39 cm) complete the top five countries with the tallest men.

For women, Latvia (169.80 cm), Netherlands (168.72 cm), Estonia (168.67 cm), Czech Republic (168.46 cm) and Serbia (167.69 cm) all make the top five highest points.

According to Guinness World Records, the tallest man in the world who ever lived was Robert Wadlow, born in 1918 and from St. Louis, Illinois, standing at 8ft 11 (272cm).

The tallest woman in the world was Zeng Jinlian of China, who was 246.3 cm tall when she died on February 13, 1982.

American scientists recently discovered that while 70 to 80 percent of how tall we grow depends on the genes we inherit, the rest is actually determined by our environment.

Examining data from more than 13,000 Americans of Latino and Hispanic descent, the researchers assessed details such as participants’ height, socioeconomic upbringing and genetics.

Presenting their findings at the American Heart Association Conference in Chicago, experts from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York said growing up in a wealthier family could trump other contributors.

The team wrote that this could indicate “better nutrition and societal resources to promote growth.”

The findings echo an earlier British study which found that children from poorer areas in England were more than four times as likely to perform below the average height for their age, compared to children from more affluent areas.

Meanwhile, a recent report from The Food Foundation shows that the average height of five-year-olds has fallen since 2013, with British boys ranked shortest and girls second shortest among developed countries.

The charity’s report noted that this decline in height was due to a reduction in consumption of key nutrients in the average British diet, including calcium, zinc, vitamin A, folic acid and iron.