Taller people are happiest, say researchers

Taller people are happier with their lives, according to a new study by US academics.

Taller people are happier with their lives, according to a new study by US academics.

The research published in science journal Elsevier’s Economics and Human Biology claimed people of greater height “live better lives” on average.

Approximately 454,065 American adults aged 18 or over were interviewed between January, 2008 and April this year as part of the study.

Participants were asked to give their heights, details about their emotions and reveal where they saw themselves on an imaginary “life ladder”.

According to the study, taller individuals overall evaluated their lives more positively and were more likely to report a range of favourable emotions, including enjoyment and happiness.

They were also less likely to register a range of negative feelings, including sadness and physical pain, though they were more likely to experience stress and anger, and if they were women, to worry.

Men who reported that their lives were the “worst possible” were more than eight tenths of an inch (2cm) shorter than the average man.

Women who saw themselves “on the bottom step” were shorter than the average woman by half an inch (1.3cm).

Looking at the relationship between height and education, the study found men who did not graduate from high school were half an inch (1.27cm) shorter than average and more than an inch (2.54cm) shorter than the average college-educated man. The differences were only a little less for women.

The report’s authors concluded the findings were almost wholly explained by the positive association between height and both income and education, both of which are closely linked to better lives.

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