I'm 1.70m tall and living in the Netherlands with exactly the opposite problem. Most pants and other clothes are for taller men. I used to buy my clothes in River Island which had a good fit, but they closed the store last year. Buying men's clothes outside the norm is a pain.
Interesting tool. At 200cm I'm halfway up the 99th percentile for men in the Netherlands (1 in 171 is taller than me), but dial it down to 198cm (6'6") and you hit the 1% boundary. For the Dutch (and many other 'tall' countries this means flying economy is gruelling, bordering on impossible, on long-haul flights for 1 in 100 Dutch men.
Naturally, I avoid flying as much as possible. Within Europe I'd rather spend hours trying to figure out the best dates and routes for cheap train tickets and utilize the few sleeper trains left — I really wish these didn't go out of style — rather than wait for hours at the airport and be physically tormented in flight.
Unable to buy pants, kitchens and bathrooms are too short so cooking and washing dishes are back-aching activities. Economy seating in airplanes is almost impossible. Vacuum cleaner handle not long enough. Few car brands have seats that go back far enough.
It’s very hard to buy a bicycle.
Nothing terrible, just annoyances. No big deal compared to dumb social prejudice against shorter men.
It's all relative. As the paper shows, 164cm is average male height in some countries. The average person is only a plane ride away from being either a short or tall person. Unless they are Dutch.
Women certainly don't want to date men who are shorter than they are. So it is a definite inconvenience to be shorter than the average woman in your own country.
Of course the last thing to be optimized for tall people is something like airline seats where there's significant pressure to optimize costs.
Try going to The Netherlands sometime. You'll find that all sorts of everyday objects are optimized for tall people, including the height of counters, urinals, toilets etc.
Even if average height is quite high. There will still be people on both sides of the bell curve much taller and much shorter than average people exists.
So basically, it will look like as it looks anywhere else. Pretty sure there are 6'3 Dutchmen who feel short in Netherlands.
Come on, you have to buy longer jeans, and extra-long-sleeved shirts, and probably bigger shoes. They all cost more. And given society's worshipping of tall people, it can't really suck. Not buying it; no sympathy from me.
I've enjoyed numerous trips to the Netherlands, but one thing I did NOT like is that, as a 5'10 guy who dresses like a typical American (i.e. not so well), I felt even shorter and less attractive than the very well dressed, handsome, and uber-tall Dutch men. I know it's silly, but it does create an inferiority complex.
It wasn't as bad living in German, but it still made me realize that there is a huge advantage to being bigger, stronger, than average.
When I lived in India, not only did I enjoy the benefits of being white, but I was also taller and far 'bigger' and stronger than most other males, due to 30 years of eating more protein.
Which is kind of interesting now that we're all talking about our dream locations. I would definitely choose somewhere where 5'10" is taller than average and caucasians / Westerners get an automatic status bump. It does make life easier.
Tall men may be well served, but tall women are not. Women have specialty stores/departments for short ("petite") or fat sizes. Tall thin women can have quite a challenge finding clothes that fit.
Hum, are you in the Netherlands? 188cm is definitely tall in pretty much everywhere. 193cm, you're probably in the top 1% in everywhere except two or three countries.
I doubt it. I come from the South West of England (known for enormous consumption of dairy products) and people aren't tall. I'm just under 6ft and was tall there, whereas I'm short here in The Netherlands.
It's probably a combination of genetics, cycling everywhere and eating so many slices of brown bread and potatoes.
Basic statistics also plays a part: when comparing arbitrary groups you'll often see smaller groups as outliers. Both high and low. Dutch population isn't huge (16m) so that is also a contributing factor..
I used to work for an ISP in Amsterdam. I sent a network engineer to the US. He had never even had a passport before. When he returned, he told me: “I used to have a stereotype of Americans as short, fat people. Now I know it is a fact” (he was 1m95/6’6”)
I think the 6 feet is the average height of young Dutch men. Older generations are shorter, but the last generation to reach adulthood is really well over 180 cm in height.
Tall people die younger, have more joint and back pain, and have trouble finding shirts that fit.
See a shirt in a store? On me a L is a belly shirt and an XL is a baggy belly shirt.
I’m tall and wish I was average and I’m not even “super tall” just 76”/193cm. I straight up feel sorry for people taller than I. They end up on crutches before dying in their 60s.
They don't seem to be taking into account the added expenses that come with height.
Clothing options are limited and much more expensive, particularly if you're of above average height and weight. More often then not my clothing purchases are at full retail price because otherwise you have no choice. Sales are for stock items and, because of the limited supply, most big and tall items rarely last long enough to go on sale.
Height doesn't come for free, it requires additional mass and volume. That equates to higher stresses. Shoes and clothes wear out faster. I have to purchase a couple pairs of jeans a year because the knees are constantly tearing out when I kneel or squat which I have to do a lot because I'm tall and our world wasn't designed for tall people.
Medically speaking our bodies are under higher stress which results in more injuries and joint problems. We require higher dosages of medicine. Any special medical prosthesis will cost more. Anesthesia is charged by amount used. Etc...
Lets talk about cars. Immediately discount any econo class car because they don't fit. So regardless of what I want to spend or can afford, my minimum price is set higher.
I'm not sure an extra $800 a year covers all that.
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