The height of Europeans, 1700-2000: Cycles, growth, and inequality

Authors

  • José Miguel Martínez Carrión

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ihe.2012.06.002

Keywords:

Height, Human growth, Biological well-being, Inequality, Nutrition, Public health, Europe, I14, I15, N01, N3

Abstract

This article explores secular changes in the biological well-being of Europeans and relationships between economic growth and human development. With male height data of military recruitment and several national surveys on health and height-by-age data from the European Community Panel, heights trends in the last three centuries are reconstructed. The results show, on the one hand, the strong growth of the European population stature from the 1850s onwards, after a period of height deterioration with unequal intensity in the majority of countries between 1750 and 1850. On the other hand, it shows the persistence of territorial disparities in height since the eighteenth century. It demontrates the inequality was mainly associated to long-term environmental and socioeconomic factors. It concluded that the fantastic height increase was a physiological revolution linked to processes of economic growth, industrialization and urbanization, but mainly to improvements in nutrition, income, education, and public health.

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How to Cite

Martínez Carrión, J. M. (2019). The height of Europeans, 1700-2000: Cycles, growth, and inequality. Investigaciones De Historia Económica, 8(3), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ihe.2012.06.002

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ARTICLES