Height Percentile Calculator

1. Using the height percentile calculator
2. How we calculate the height percentile
3. How does my height compare to others?
4. Average height data sources
5. Average height of United States citizens by age
6. Who is the tallest man?

    Using the height percentile calculator

Calculate what percentile of the population your height falls in, as in what percentage of people of a given gender, age, and country are shorter or taller than you. This height percentile calculator is perfect for answering the questions "What percentile is my height?" and "What percentile height am I?". The tool can also be used for infants, toddlers and children, including newborn babies. It can serve as a height for age calculator, but note that the results do not constitute health advice. Always consult a certified physician before taking any action related to your health or the health of your child.

To use the height percentile calculator first select a biological sex (gender), then enter the current age of the person. Type in whole years and select the number of months by rounding to the nearest whole month. For a newborn enter zeroes in both years and months. Age accuracy is not important for adults above 20 years old. Then enter the person's height in feet and inches or in cm or meters. If doing this for a child or toddler, enter their sex (boy or girl), age, and height.

Finally, select the country with whose population you want to compare the height against, or just select "The World" for a worldwide comparison. If choosing a particular country - for adult men and women this should be the country they have spent most of their child and teenage years in order to get a fair comparison. To see the result, press "Calculate Height Percentile" and see which percentile the person falls in. E.g. if they are in the 80th percentile this means they are taller than 80 out of 100 males or out of 100 females, respectively.

    How we calculate the height percentile

The assumption behind the height comparison calculator is that height in human populations follows an approximately normal distribution. Knowing the mean and standard deviation of a normal distribution means one can compute the cumulative distribution function and thus see where a particular measurement falls in terms of cutting out a certain percentage of the total distribution. This is a fancy way of saying 'height percentile'.

Since standard deviation data is not available for all listed countries for some of these the software uses estimates from neighboring countries with relatively comparable populations. For other countries height data is only available for one gender - in such cases we estimated the height of the other using the average difference in the mean height of human males and females. Height percentiles are computed from these estimates.

Update note: as of September 2025 the calculator has an updated database of average height by country and by sex, and has included over a dozen new countries for which data became available since the last update. The World-average height has also been revised down using a newer, more comprehensive resource ^[3].

It should be noted that the further away from the population mean a given stature is, the larger the probability of an error due to sampling error in surveys.

    How does my height compare to others?

If you've compared your height to the average for a given gender across the World (just select 'The World' from the Country drop-down, it is in first position) or in any specific country, the height comparison calculator will output the results as height percentiles. It will also show what percentage of the specified group you are taller than and shorter than. The numbers are straightforward to understand, but a practical example may help.

For example, if your height is in the 10th percentile of a specificed age, sex, and country, that means that you are shorter than 90 out of 100 men or women of the same age and country. On the opposite end, if your height is in the 90th percentile of the world average that means you are taller than 90 out of 100 females or 90 out of 100 males, respectively, depending on what gender you chose to compare to. You can use our visual height comparison tool to visually compare yourself on a height scale to a population average, or even to a celebrity or fictional character.

    Average height data sources

The height percentile calculator data for infants and children up to 24 months is based on the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards^[1]. Height percentiles for children older than 23 months (boys & girls) and teenagers is from the United States NHANES population survey^[2] used to compile the CDC Growth Charts. Therefore "United States" is the only option available in the country selector if you input an age in this range.

Adult height data is from various sources, mostly national surveys of the respective countries. The database currently consists of 133 countries including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, most European countries, and others. Comparing your height to the correct country average is important since average height varies considerably between countries due to genetic and environmental factors.

Worldwide average heights and standard deviations are based on the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (2020) ^[3], using the latest cohort born in 1996. Height percentiles are calculated from these data. Worldwide data have inherent issues due to possible sampling biases and systematic measurement errors (e.g. due to self-reported heights). The issues are not unique since these could be present for country level data as well.

    Average height of United States citizens by age

Below are the average heights for males and females of different ages based on the US CDC growth charts. The data is gathered as a part of the U.S. NCHS National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011-2014) ^[2]. It essentially shows the expected height for each age bracket by biological sex, assuming nothing else is known about the individual.

Above is the average (mean) height comparison for U.S. citizens aged 0+. Below is the median height of U.S. citizens aged 0-20, by age and by gender (men, women). The median height value shows that half of the population's height is lower than it, and half is higher.

There is a clear trend for height to increase in young boys and girls till about adulthood. It decreases slightly for both genders in the late adult years. Due to this our tool adjusts the mean estimates slightly if your age is in the 70-79 or 80+ range. On the other hand, due to the rapid growth of baby boys and baby girls, as well as toddlers, our calculator has more refined data for each month so a more accurate percentile can be calculated.

    Who is the tallest man?

According to Wikipedia the tallest living man is Sultan Kösen of Turkey with a stature of 251 cm (8 ft 3 in). In modern history, the tallest man was Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918–1940), from Illinois, US, who was 272 cm (8 ft 11 in) when he passed away.

Going further back, the tallest woman in medical history appears to be Zeng Jinlian of Hunan, China, who stood at 248 cm (8 ft 1 1⁄2 in) when she died at the age of 17.

On the opposite side we have the shortest adult human on record: Chandra Bahadur Dangi of Nepal with a height of only 54.6 cm (1 ft 9 1⁄2 in).