Comments on: Are Norwegians Tall? The Height of People in Norway

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 19 Apr 2025 14:56:57 +0000

I have 12% Norwegian dna, 36% Irish, 33% Scottish, and 19% English. I was always one of the tallest girls in my classes as a child. I was 5’8” at my tallest. Now, at 69 yrs old I am 5’7 1/2”. I am, however, taller than my five sisters who ranged from 5’2” to 5’5”. The oldest sister was 5’2” and the youngest was 5’5”. I am next to youngest. Both the oldest and youngest were lifelong smokers since teens and drank alcohol, the youngest also having used recreational drugs. Both have passed away. Nutrition played a role in my family’s growth. The elder children (two sisters and three brothers) grew up in poverty in Kentucky. The younger children (three sisters and myself) started out in Kentucky, but moved to Southern California as children. My elder brother is 84 years old and reached a height of 5’5” at best. The other two brothers were over 6’ tall. Both have passed away. The younger of my three brothers was a smoker and drank alcohol. The remaining five of us (brother 84 yrs old, sister 82 yrs old, sister 73 yrs old, sister 71 yrs old, and me 69 yrs old) are not smokers or drinkers.

By: Graham Wood

Graham Wood — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 14:11:36 +0000

I’m 1.83m tall. I recently had a DNA test done, which shows I have 20% Norway and Iceland descendants, 14% Welsh, 50% English, then a smaller mix of Irish and Scottish. This is an interesting article, which shows that the Vikings were shorter than we thought, but that we all were shorter 1000 years ago.

By: James Bussey

James Bussey — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 13:11:23 +0000

My observations of relative heights of different generations of Norwegians is that those born in the 1940s and ’50s, like their contemporaries in the UK, tend to be a lot shorter than those born in the 1970s and onward. Probably this is because of post-WWII food shortages and rationing. Those Norwegians of my age (1960s) are taller than the average British person of that age, because the UK was still a heavily industrialised country then, and breathing in chemicals and leaded car fumes doesn’t do one’s childhood growth any good. More Norwegians are ‘townies’ these days than in the 1980s
Younger Brits are taller and bigger than those who came before them: either stronger and fitter if they are into sports or training, or fatter if they aren’t. We don’t eat much better or worse, or even more calories than we did half a century ago: we just have a reduced activity level due to a proliferation of labour-saving devices.
My observations are from travelling to Norway in the 1990s for winter x-country ski and biathlon team training, and in this century for summer hut touring.
Norway is the best set-up country in the world for those activities. 🇳🇴🇬🇧👍

By: Eileen M Ronning

Eileen M Ronning — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 15:01:37 +0000

I was always tall, full height 5’9” and commented that in high school and college the tall guys seemed to always ask the short girls out. My father was tall over 6’ and my mother 5’5/6”.(both born in Brevik Norway). My husband was 6’1” when we were married (50 years ago)of Norwegian background on both sides and now I am 5’7.5” Both of our sons are over 6.2”and 16 year old grandson wow Very TALL ‼️ I Love being a first generation Norwegian American 🇳🇴🇳🇴👏👏‼️