In the Netherlands, the average height of women is 5.6 feet, while the average height for men is 6 feet—this makes the Dutch the tallest in the world.
Around 200 years ago, the Dutch were among the shortest in the world.
This transformation has always intrigued scientists, and they have come to attribute this increase in height to a few factors.
Factor 1: The genes.
A gene—Y haplotype I-M170—has been found to be associated with height in men, and in the Netherlands, over 35% of men have this gene.
This gene is believed to have come from mammoth hunters of prehistoric times, and only one country—Bosnia and Herzegovina—has more men (70%) than the Netherlands to have this gene.
And while the average height of Bosnians is marginally higher than the Dutch, they are not said to be the tallest in general because their population displays a large variation in height.
Factor 2: Better nutrition and living conditions.
Living conditions and nutrition have improved significantly over the last two centuries, and it is true globally.
So, it is not just the Dutch who have grown taller but the whole world—just that the Dutch have gained a lot of height compared to the others.
E.g., the Dutch have gained 8 inches in the last 150 years while the Americans have grown by 2.3 inches.
Consumption of protein with the gene mentioned in Point 5 above is said to have contributed immensely.
Factor 3: The evolution.
Researchers studied the lives of 95000 Dutch people from 1935 to 1967 and found out that most kids born in this period were born to tall men and women of average height.
Also, when compared to global numbers, taller women reproduced more in the Netherlands.
And height is highly heritable—taller parents meant more people born with the “tall gene”, which continued over generations.
The Dutch always have fascinated me. Their culture seems a good deal more geared to modern life than most other cultures.