Joseon men 161cm tall, women 149cm

By Kim Rahn

Men in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) era stood 161 centimeters tall on average, while women were about 149 centimeters tall, according to a study.

It is the first time for the average height of the nation’s ancestors to be estimated.

A research team led by professors Hwang Young-il and Shin Dong-hoon at Seoul National University’s Department of Anatomy announced the result of their study Tuesday, providing unprecedented details on how tall our ancestors were.

The Joseon era’s average statures compare with the average heights of 174 centimeters for men and 160.5 for women as of 2010, according to the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards.

The study was published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

The researchers came up with the result after measuring the thighbones of the remains from tombs for 67 men and 49 women between the 15th and 19th centuries and calculating the proportions. The measuring method, Fujii’s equation, is said to be the most accurate way currently used to estimate the height using skeletal remains.

According to the study, the average height of men from the Joseon period was shorter than those in Western countries dating from similar periods: in Sweden in the 17th century a male’s average stature was 169.9 centimeters; that in the Netherlands in the 17th-19th centuries, 166.7 centimeters; that in Germany in the 16th-18th centuries, 169.5 centimeters; and that in the U.S. in the 17th-19th centuries, 173.4 centimeters.

But it was taller than that of male Japanese by some 6 centimeters. “According to Japan’s research, the average stature of Japanese men between the early Edo period and the Meiji era (between the 17th and early 20th centuries) was 154.7-155.1 centimeters,” Hwang said.

The study showed the Joseon people’s average height hadn’t changed much from the early 15th century to the end of 19th century, but rapidly grew from the early 20th century.

Hwang said such a sudden change was linked to better nutrition, hygiene and industrialization.

“It seems the Joseon people were undernourished and suffered from diseases due to poor hygiene. But the stature increased considerably in about a century as the country’s modernization started at the end of the 19th century and full-scale industrialization began in the 1960s. This led to improved nutrition and hygiene,” he said.

He said a similar tendency was also seen in Western countries where people’s average statures hiked in the early 19th century in a short time upon industrialization.