Shop
Shop
On average, women prefer tall men. Interestingly, women are more concerned about dating taller men than men are about dating shorter women.
A study of women’s and men’s height preferences has shown that women are satisfied when their partner is 21 cm taller. Men are satisfied when they are 8 cm taller than their partner. Another study showed that among men, 13.5% prefer to only date women below them. But among women, about half (48.9%) preferred to date only taller men.
In addition, a study of height and mate choice found that, on average, the shortest man a woman would hypothetically date is 175 cm. And the shortest woman a man would date is 155 cm. In the same study, researchers found that 23% of men and 4% of women would agree to a relationship in which the woman was superior.
Finally, the researchers found that women married to taller men report better health, lower BMI, higher educational attainment, and higher incomes compared to women married to shorter men.
An article titled «Women’s and Men’s Height Stereotypes: The Consequences of Short Height for Both Sexes» explored height stereotypes. The researchers asked a group of participants to imagine a woman who would be «short» (under 150 cm), «medium» height (165 cm) or «tall» (from 175 cm and above). Participants then rated the women on various characteristics.
Women of tall and medium height were rated as more attractive and successful. But there was no difference in the scores between women of high and medium height.
The participants also rated the men. Short men were perceived as less socially attractive, less successful, less physically attractive, less fit, and less masculine than men of average and tall stature. Medium and tall men did not differ in these characteristics. But participants rated tall men as more athletic than average (and short) men.
Economists call this the «growth premium.» Greater growth is associated with higher earnings. One study found that for both men and women, an 2.5 cm increase in height was associated with a 1.4 to 2.9 percent increase in weekly earnings.
Another American study found that every centimeter of growth is associated with an increase in income of almost $800 per year. This suggests that men who are 182 cm tall earn an average of about $160,000 more over a 30-year career compared to men who are 175 cm tall.
This is probably one of the reasons why taller people earn more on average. In fact, some researchers attribute the height premium to taller people who receive higher levels of education. As a result, they occupy higher paid positions.
In the US, male office workers are about 2.5 cm taller than blue-collar males. In the UK, the situation is similar: white-collar men are on average 1.5 centimeters taller than workers.
And it’s not just men. Women in professional and managerial positions are about 2.5 centimeters taller than women in manual labor. Interestingly, the researchers found differences in education associated with height, even within families.
A study of 950,000 Swedish men found that among pairs of brothers, the taller brother was more likely to graduate. Men taller than 194 cm were 2 to 3 times more likely to receive a college education compared to men shorter than 165 cm. Year of birth, socioeconomic status, general family factors, and cognitive ability were taken into account in the same study. They still found a significant positive correlation between height and education.
A team of researchers collected data on 165,606 people in the US, including how they feel. The scale contained five categories (“Poor”, “Satisfactory”, “Good”, “Very good” and “Excellent”). The results showed that shorter men reported worse health than taller men. In addition, they also found that shorter men married women who reported worse health than women who married taller men.
As the researchers note, “shorter men were less educated, less healthy, had a higher BMI and lower family income than taller men … are educated and have a higher BMI than women of the same height who were paired with more high partners.
