平均身高最高和最矮的國家，第一名你猜到了嗎？

一項發表在柳葉刀雜誌上的新研究發現，中國人過去三十多年變得越來越高，尤其是中國男孩，是全世界身高增長最快的群體之一。

這項研究由倫敦大學帝國理工學院研究人員進行，對200多個國家和地區的男性和女性身高進行了比較。團隊分析了自1985年至2019年的2181項基於人群的研究，涉及5000萬5至19歲的兒童和青少年，以及1500萬20至30歲成年人的數據。

研究發現，全世界身高最高的人群集中分布在歐洲西北部和中部的國家，而身高最矮的人群則生活在南亞和東南亞，以及拉丁美洲和東非地區。

A new study published by The Lancet medical journal has revealed the tallest and shortest peoples and the places that continue to grow in height.

An exhaustive research project has compared the height of men and women across 200 countries and territories across the world.

The study pooled 2,181 population-based measurement surveys and studies, with anthropometric measurements on 50 million people aged 5–19 years and 15 million people aged 20–30 years.

The results revealed that the world's tallest men and women were largely found in northwestern and Central European countries, while the shortest lived across south and South East Asia, Latin America and East Africa.

研究顯示，荷蘭男性和女性均在全球身高排行榜列居榜首，其中荷蘭19男性平均身高達到183釐米，而同齡女性平均身高達到了172釐米。

在男性身高方面，全球排名第二的國家是愛沙尼亞（19歲男性平均身高180釐米）、排名第三的國家為波士尼亞與赫塞哥維納（179釐米）、排名第四的國家是蒙特內哥羅共和國（172釐米）。

而在女性身高方面，全球排名第二的國家是丹麥（19歲女性平均身高165釐米）、排名第三的國家是冰島（163釐米）、排名第四的國家是蒙特內哥羅共和國（161釐米）。

研究還發現，寮國、東帝汶、巴布亞紐幾內亞和索羅門群島的男性平均身高最矮，19歲男性平均身高分別為159釐米、160釐米、161釐米和162釐米；而女性平均身高最矮的國家為孟加拉、東帝汶、瓜地馬拉和尼泊爾，19歲女性平均身高分別為150釐米、150釐米、150.9釐米和151釐米。

The Netherlands is renowned for its tall population and unsurprisingly the nation has the tallest average height on Earth. The average 19-year-old man stands at 183 cm, while women of the same age are typically 172 cm.

Estonia (180cm), Bosnia and Herzegovina (179 cm) and Montenegro (172 cm) were the next tallest nations for men, along with Denmark (165 cm), Iceland (163cm) and Montenegro (161 cm) for women.

The study also revealed that the places with the shortest average height for men were Laos (159 cm), Timor-Leste (160 cm), Papua New Guinea (161 cm) and the Solomon Islands (162 cm).

Meanwhile, the equivalent figures for women were Bangladesh (150 cm), Timor-Leste (150 cm), Guatemala (150.9 cm) and Nepal (151 cm).

Some nations are continuing to grow in height. China has boasted the largest height gain for boys and third largest for girls in recent decades, while South Korea has the third largest growth rate for boys and second largest for girls in the same period.

研究還發現，一些國家的國民身高在持續增長，其中以中國和韓國最為突出。過去35年，中國男孩身高增長速度在全球排名第一，女孩身高增長速度在全球排名第三；而韓國男孩身高增長速度在全球排名第三，女孩身高增長速度在全球排名第二。

研究得出結論，家庭、學校和社區的社會、營養和環境因素都對兒童和青少年的健康成長至關重要。研究人員認為，各國應該關注對學齡兒童和青少年的營養投資，確保他們能夠健康成長。

The study concluded that social, nutritional, and environmental factors at home, school and within the community were all crucial to the healthy growth and development of children through to adolescence.

It also urged nations to invest in the nutrition of school children and adolescents to ensure a healthy transition to adulthood.