The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited
African adult populations are remarkably tall for the low income levels that prevail at the country level. The average African woman is about 158.5 cm tall, whereas the low gross domestic product per capita would lead us to expect a mean height more similar to the shortest populations in the world,...
| Autores principales: | , |
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| Formato: | Capítulo de libro |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press
2016
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148377 |
| _version_ | 1855526530158952448 |
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| author | Moradi, Alexander Hirvonen, Kalle |
| author_browse | Hirvonen, Kalle Moradi, Alexander |
| author_facet | Moradi, Alexander Hirvonen, Kalle |
| author_sort | Moradi, Alexander |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | African adult populations are remarkably tall for the low income levels that prevail at the country level. The average African woman is about 158.5 cm tall, whereas the low gross domestic product per capita would lead us to expect a mean height more similar to the shortest populations in the world, about 4 cm shorter. This is the case in spite of the fact that indicators of socioeconomic status and height are positively correlated within each country. The chapter also shows that the physical stature of African children fit well into the global income–height relationship. Hence, we conclude that the anomaly in the income–height nexus at country level appears to originate between childhood and adulthood. We present evidence for considerable catch-up growth involving entire populations. We discuss possible reasons for this catch-up growth including genetics, and, above all, better nutrition and health conditions during adolescence. |
| format | Book Chapter |
| id | CGSpace148377 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| publisherStr | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1483772024-10-25T07:58:08Z The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited Moradi, Alexander Hirvonen, Kalle income nutritional status height African adult populations are remarkably tall for the low income levels that prevail at the country level. The average African woman is about 158.5 cm tall, whereas the low gross domestic product per capita would lead us to expect a mean height more similar to the shortest populations in the world, about 4 cm shorter. This is the case in spite of the fact that indicators of socioeconomic status and height are positively correlated within each country. The chapter also shows that the physical stature of African children fit well into the global income–height relationship. Hence, we conclude that the anomaly in the income–height nexus at country level appears to originate between childhood and adulthood. We present evidence for considerable catch-up growth involving entire populations. We discuss possible reasons for this catch-up growth including genetics, and, above all, better nutrition and health conditions during adolescence. 2016-01-01 2024-06-21T09:24:31Z 2024-06-21T09:24:31Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148377 en Oxford University Press Moradi, Alexander; and Hirvonen, Kalle. The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited.In The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology, eds. John Komlos and Inas Rashad Kelly. Part IV Regional Studies, pp. 669 - 692. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199389292.013.11 |
| spellingShingle | income nutritional status height Moradi, Alexander Hirvonen, Kalle The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| title | The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| title_full | The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| title_fullStr | The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| title_full_unstemmed | The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| title_short | The African enigma: The mystery of tall African adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| title_sort | african enigma the mystery of tall african adults despite low national incomes revisited |
| topic | income nutritional status height |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148377 |
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