The Netherlands has the tallest average population in this site’s 69-country dataset, at 183.78cm (6’0.4”) for men and 170.36cm (5’7.1”) for women. Montenegro is a close second for both sexes. This is a ranking of the countries in this dataset, not a claim about every country on Earth — see the caveat below.
Tallest countries by average male height
This table ranks the 10 tallest countries for average adult male height, out of the 69 countries in this site’s dataset.
| Rank | Country | Average male height |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 183.78cm (6’0.4”) |
| 2 | Montenegro | 183.3cm (6’0.2”) |
| 3 | Estonia | 182.8cm (6’0.0”) |
| 4 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 182.5cm (5’11.9”) |
| 5 | Iceland | 182.1cm (5’11.7”) |
| 6 | Denmark | 181.89cm (5’11.6”) |
| 7 | Latvia | 181.2cm (5’11.3”) |
| 8 | Czechia | 181.19cm (5’11.3”) |
| 9 | Slovakia | 181.0cm (5’11.3”) |
| 10 | Ukraine | 180.98cm (5’11.3”) |
Tallest countries by average female height
The same dataset, ranked for average adult female height instead.
| Rank | Country | Average female height |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 170.36cm (5’7.1”) |
| 2 | Montenegro | 170.0cm (5’6.9”) |
| 3 | Denmark | 169.47cm (5’6.7”) |
| 4 | Iceland | 168.91cm (5’6.5”) |
| 5 | Latvia | 168.8cm (5’6.5”) |
| 6 | Estonia | 168.7cm (5’6.4”) |
| 7 | Serbia | 168.29cm (5’6.3”) |
| 8 | Czechia | 167.96cm (5’6.1”) |
| 9 | Lithuania | 167.6cm (5’6.0”) |
| 10 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 167.5cm (5’5.9”) |
The Netherlands and Montenegro top both lists in this dataset. Beyond that, the two rankings diverge — Serbia and Lithuania feature in the female top 10 but not the male one, for example.
Compared with the average male in Netherlands
0 cm
taller than the average of 183.8 cm.
Netherlands ranks #1 of 69 countries in this dataset (68 have a lower average).
Top 10 tallest-average countries (male)
| Rank | Country | Average height |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 183.8 cm |
| 2 | Montenegro | 183.3 cm |
| 3 | Estonia | 182.8 cm |
| 4 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 182.5 cm |
| 5 | Iceland | 182.1 cm |
| 6 | Denmark | 181.9 cm |
| 7 | Latvia | 181.2 cm |
| 8 | Czechia | 181.2 cm |
| 9 | Slovakia | 181 cm |
| 10 | Ukraine | 181 cm |
| Name | Height |
|---|---|
| Netherlands average man | 183.8 cm |
| UK average man | 178.2 cm |
| US average man | 176.9 cm |
How big is the gap from top to bottom?
The Netherlands’ male average (183.78cm) sits 23.98cm above Timor-Leste’s, the shortest male average in this same dataset. For women, the Netherlands’ average (170.36cm) sits 20.96cm above Guatemala’s shortest female average.
That’s a useful sense check on scale. A gap of roughly 20-24cm between the tallest and shortest national averages in this dataset is substantial, but it’s still smaller than the natural height variation found within any single country’s population.
Why this isn’t a full global ranking
This dataset covers 69 countries. NCD-RisC’s own dataset, the underlying source, covers roughly 200 — so this page ranks a subset, not every country in the world.
That subset leans towards higher-income, disproportionately European and Northern countries, which is exactly the group that tends to rank tallest. A genuinely global ranking, across all ~200 countries, would likely include some countries not yet in this file, and the true global spread between tallest and shortest may differ from what these 69 countries alone suggest.
In short: treat this as “the tallest countries within this site’s current dataset”, not “the tallest countries on Earth, definitively ranked”. The distinction matters, and this page states it plainly rather than implying otherwise.
What explains the pattern at the top
Average population height reflects a mix of genetics and childhood environment, built up across generations. Nutrition quality through childhood — enough protein and key micronutrients — plays a large role, alongside low rates of childhood illness and good healthcare access.
Countries at the top of this list have generally had consistent access to both for decades. That’s the standard, general explanation in the research literature, and this page doesn’t go further than that for any specific country. The companion article on why Dutch people are so tall looks at the Netherlands specifically, including the research on why its national height gains may now be levelling off.
Genetics also plays a role in how populations differ, on top of environment. The two interact rather than acting separately: even where genetic potential for height is high, childhood nutrition and healthcare shortfalls can still hold actual population height below that potential.
It’s worth noting that most countries near the top of this list are geographically clustered in Northern and Central Europe. That clustering fits the general explanation above, since neighbouring countries have often shared broadly similar nutrition and healthcare trajectories across the 20th century, on top of whatever genetic factors differ between populations.
How the ranking works
Countries are sorted by their published mean height in this dataset, tallest to shortest, separately for men and women. Rank 1 is the tallest average in the dataset; a country outside the top 10 shown here still has its own position among all 69.
This is a ranking of national averages, not of individuals. A tall person in a lower-ranked country can easily be taller than a short person in a top-ranked one — averages describe populations, not any one person within them.
It’s also worth separating a country ranking from a percentile. This page ranks countries against each other. For where a specific height sits within a population by age, this site’s percentile calculator is the right tool instead.
Using this ranking sensibly
A national average hides a great deal of internal variation — by region, by generation, and simply between individuals. Two countries a few places apart in this table can be closer in reality than the ranking implies, especially given normal measurement and sampling uncertainty in the underlying figures.
Average height also isn’t fixed. Many populations have grown taller over the past century as nutrition and healthcare improved, a pattern often called the secular trend in height. A 2019-cohort figure reflects people who grew up decades earlier, not today’s children.
If you want to compare your own height against the Netherlands, or any other country in this list, the calculator above ranks it directly against all 69 countries in the dataset.
Method and sources
Source: NCD-RisC’s 2019 cohort data (mean height, age 19), as compiled by World Population Review and heightcomparisoncalculator.com — this site’s own dataset (src/data/countries.json) documents that NCD-RisC’s raw download wasn’t directly reachable when this file was built, so these are secondary, cross-checked compilations rather than a first-party download.
Coverage: 69 countries, a partial subset of NCD-RisC’s roughly 200-country dataset. Rankings above were calculated by sorting all 69 countries’ figures from tallest to shortest, separately for each sex. Last reviewed 2026-09-19.
Try the average height by country tool to rank your own height against the Netherlands or any other country in this dataset, or open the comparison board to see two national averages stood side by side. See also the companion article on the shortest countries in the world.
See also: average height in Europe by country.