The impact of genetics on individuals’ physical height attainment is well-established. So much so, in fact, that its importance may obfuscate, in popular culture, other major contributors. Physical stature remains a potent proxy for predicting a number of socioeconomic and health outcomes12, so shedding additional light on its determinants seems essential.

Research on these determinants has shown that socioeconomic status is a potent factor in the average height reached by populations34. This effect takes place through multiple channels5; lower-income children tend suffer from lower nutritional intake due to the relative cost of food, tend to remain more vulnerable to diseases due to less access to healthcare resources, and are subject to more stressors, leaving less surplus to the body, and translating into a smaller stature.

Although these dynamics do not always prevent individuals from achieving high growth, due to the protective effect of certain genes, at the population level they create substantial risks for low-income groups.

John Komlos’ research has contributed much to the topic, producing a number of articles on the income-height dynamics. One of these articles presents a particularly interesting pattern6, showing that these relationships between socioeconomic status and physical height have left Americans in a comparatively worse position, today, than citizens of a sample of Western and Northern Europe countries (in this specific study, Germany, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands).
These findings were significant even while controlling for the lower average height of Hispanic citizens, a major contributor to the US’ population growth.

The importance of early childhood care for general adult well-being has been known for some time. As a result, most industrialized nations already have policies in place intent on assuring a baseline level of healthcare and well-being to children7. However, because a substantial part of the physical height growth process continues throughout the teenage years, it may be pertinent to consider the socioeconomic conditions of children during the entire growth process in order to maximize population outcomes.

 

Significant papers

[1] Rashad, I. (2008). “Height, health, and income in the US, 1984-2005.” Economics and Human Biology 6(1): 108-126.

[2] Crimmins, E. M. and C. E. Finch (2006). “Infection, inflammation, height, and longevity.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(2): 498-503.

[3] Finch, B. K. and A. N. Beck (2011). “Socio-economic status and z-score standardized height-for-age of U.S.-born children (ages 2-6).” Economics and Human Biology 9(3): 272-276.

[4] Grasgruber, P., J. Cacek, et al. (2014). “The role of nutrition and genetics as key determinants of the positive height trend.” Economics and Human Biology 15: 81-100.

[5] Steckel, R. H. (2009). “Heights and human welfare: Recent developments and new directions.” Explorations in Economic History 46(1): 1-23.

[6] Komlos, J. and B. E. Lauderdale (2007). “Underperformance in affluence: The remarkable relative decline in U.S. heights in the second half of the 20th century.” Social Science Quarterly 88(2): 283-305.

[7] OECD (2009), “Comparative Child Well-being across the OECD”, in Doing Better for Children, OECD Publishing, Paris.

 

Additional references

Carson, S. A. (2008). “The effect of geography and vitamin D on African American stature in the nineteenth century: Evidence from prison records.” Journal of Economic History 68(3): 812-831.

Costa-Font, J. and J. Gil (2008). “Generational effects and gender height dimorphism in contemporary Spain.” Economics and Human Biology 6(1): 1-18.

Cvrcek, T. (2009). “Inequality and living standards under early communism: Anthropometric evidence from Czechoslovakia, 1946-1966.” Explorations in Economic History 46(4): 436-449.

Do, D. P., D. C. Watkins, et al. (2013). “The relationship between height and neighborhood context across racial/ethnic groups: A multi-level analysis of the 1999-2004 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.” Economics and Human Biology 11(1): 30-41.

Hatton, T. J. and B. E. Bray (2010). “Long run trends in the heights of European men, 19th-20th centuries.” Economics and Human Biology 8(3): 405-413.

Jacobs, J. and V. Tassenaar (2004). “Height, income, and nutrition in the Netherlands: The second half of the 19th century.” Economics and Human Biology 21(2): 181-195.

Komlos, J. (2010). “The recent decline in the height of African-American women.” Economics and Human Biology 8(1): 58-66.

Komlos, J. (2008). “Stagnation of heights among second-generation U.S.-born army personnel.” Social Science Quarterly 89(2): 445-455.

Krieger, N., J. T. Chen, et al. (2013). “History, haldanes and health inequities: Exploring phenotypic changes in body size by generation and income level in the US-born White and Black non-Hispanic populations 1959-1962 to 2005-2008.” International Journal of Epidemiology 42(1): 281-295.

María-Dolores, R. and J. M. Martínez-Carrión (2011). “The relationship between height and economic development in Spain, 1850-1958.” Economics and Human Biology 9(1): 30-44.

Rühli, F., M. Henneberg, et al. (2008). “Variability of height, weight, and body mass index in a Swiss Armed Forces 2005 census.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 137(4): 457-468.

Webb, E. A., D. Kuh, et al. (2008). “Estimation of secular trends in adult height, and childhood socioeconomic circumstances in three Eastern European populations.” Economics and Human Biology 6(2): 228-236.

 

Counter-argument

Krieger, N., A. Kosheleva, et al. (2014). “50-year trends in US socioeconomic inequalities in health: US-born Black and White Americans, 1959-2008.” International Journal of Epidemiology 43(4): 1294-1313.