The average height of Koreans has increased for both men and women compared to 40 years ago, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy’s National Institute of Technology and Standards.

The survey was carried out from May 2020 to December 2021 on 6,839 randomly selected Koreans aged 20 to 69.

The average height of men stood at 172.5 cm, which was 6.4 cm taller than in the first survey conducted in 1979 (166.1 cm) while for women it increased by 5.3 cm to 159.6 cm. 

The study showed that the average height of Koreans began to rise sharply from the early 20th century as the country modernized and industrialized.