Global Rankings by Net Nutritional Status
Global Ranking by Effective Stature Ranking Country Effective stature (cm) Height (cm) BMI Life Expectancy (years) Population (million) 200 Ethiopia 157 166 20 63 64 199 Eritrea 158 168 20 63 4 198 Timor-Leste 159 160 21 67 1 197 Rwanda 160 163 21 NA 8 196 Bangladesh 160 164 21 71 137 195 Madagascar 161 162 22 64 16 194 DR Congo 161 167 21 59 52 193 Zambia 161 167 21 60 10 192 Uganda 161 166 22 59 24 191 Niger 161 168 21 59 11 190 Viet Nam 162 164 22 72 79 189 India 162 165 22 67 1,004 188 Cambodia 162 163 22 67 12 187 Burundi 162 167 22 58 7 186 Sierra Leone 162 164 22 49 5 185 Mozambique 163 165 22 57 18 184 Central African Republic 163 167 22 51 4 183 Myanmar 163 165 22 65 44 182 Nepal 164 162 23 69 25 181 Lao PDR 164 161 23 64 5 180 Malawi 164 162 23 60 12 179 Indonesia 164 164 23 68 NA 178 Tanzania 164 165 22 61 34 177 Chad 164 170 22 52 8 176 Senegal 164 173 22 65 11 175 Burkina Faso 164 169 22 59 12 174 Kenya 164 170 22 64 31 173 Equatorial Guinea 164 167 22 58 0 172 Angola 164 167 22 60 10 171 Congo 164 167 22 63 3 170 Sri Lanka 164 166 23 73 19 169 Zimbabwe 164 169 22 59 12 168 Afghanistan 164 165 23 62 24 167 Somalia 164 167 23 54 7 166 Guinea 164 168 22 58 8 165 Nigeria 165 166 23 54 123 164 Philippines 165 163 23 66 81 163 Lesotho 165 166 23 51 2 162 Benin 165 167 23 60 7 161 Togo 165 168 23 60 5 160 Ghana 165 169 23 62 20 159 Guinea Bissau 165 168 23 58 1 158 Botswana 166 172 23 62 2 157 Namibia 166 167 23 61 2 156 Liberia 166 164 23 58 3 155 Mauritania 166 163 23 63 3 154 Yemen 166 160 24 64 17 153 Mali 166 171 23 57 10 152 Sudan 166 167 23 63 NA 151 Comoros 166 166 23 62 1 150 Gambia 166 165 24 61 1 149 Pakistan 167 167 23 66 146 148 Bhutan 167 165 24 70 1 147 Cote d'Ivoire 167 167 23 53 17 146 Djibouti 167 167 24 62 0 145 Cameroon 167 168 24 56 15 144 Sao Tome and Principe 168 167 24 67 0 143 Japan 168 171 24 81 126 142 Thailand 168 169 24 72 62 141 Gabon 169 168 24 64 1 140 Cabo Verde 169 173 24 71 0 139 China 169 172 24 75 1,263 138 Swaziland 170 168 25 55 1 137 North Korea 170 172 24 68 21 136 Maldives 170 168 25 77 0 135 Singapore 170 173 24 81 4 134 Papua New Guinea 170 164 25 64 5 133 Mauritius 170 170 25 72 1 132 Algeria 170 170 25 76 30 131 Bahrain 170 168 25 78 1 130 South Africa 170 167 25 60 45 129 South Korea 170 175 24 79 47 128 China (Hong Kong SAR) 171 174 25 NA NA 127 Bolivia 171 167 25 69 8 126 Malaysia 171 168 25 73 22 125 Guyana 171 170 25 64 1 124 Guatemala 171 163 26 70 11 123 Solomon Islands 171 164 26 70 0 122 Taiwan 172 175 25 NA NA 121 Morocco 172 170 26 75 30 120 Cuba 172 172 25 77 11 119 Vanuatu 172 168 26 70 0 118 Honduras 172 166 26 73 6 117 Dominica 172 176 25 NA 0 116 Peru 172 165 26 74 26 115 Iran 172 174 25 75 63 114 Suriname 172 173 25 69 0 113 Mongolia 172 169 26 66 3 112 Colombia 172 169 26 72 40 111 Grenada 172 177 25 71 0 110 Armenia 172 172 26 71 3 109 Dominican Republic 173 173 26 71 8 108 Tajikistan 173 171 26 69 6 107 Antigua and Barbuda 173 173 26 73 0 106 Tunisia 173 174 26 74 10 105 Seychelles 173 174 26 69 0 104 Panama 173 168 26 75 3 103 Azerbaijan 173 170 26 70 8 102 Kyrgyzstan 173 171 26 67 5 101 Nicaragua 173 167 27 73 5 100 Uzbekistan 173 169 26 70 25 99 Ecuador 173 167 27 74 12 98 Jamaica 173 175 26 74 3 97 Oman 173 169 27 75 3 96 Brunei Darussalam 173 165 27 76 0 95 Kazakhstan 173 171 26 66 15 94 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 174 173 26 70 0 93 Brazil 174 174 26 72 176 92 Costa Rica 174 169 27 77 4 91 Russian Federation 174 176 26 66 147 90 Greenland 174 175 26 NA NA 89 Portugal 174 173 26 79 10 88 Turkmenistan 174 172 27 64 4 87 Haiti 174 173 27 61 8 86 El Salvador 174 170 27 69 6 85 Paraguay 174 173 27 73 6 84 Venezuela 174 172 27 70 23 83 Trinidad and Tobago 174 174 27 69 1 82 Barbados 174 176 27 73 0 81 Fiji 174 174 27 67 1 80 Egypt 175 167 28 69 71 79 Belize 175 169 28 68 0 78 France 175 180 26 80 61 77 Mexico 175 169 28 74 100 76 Moldova 175 175 27 68 4 75 Libya 175 174 27 71 5 74 Albania 175 173 27 75 3 73 Syrian Arab Republic 175 170 28 55 16 72 Bahamas 175 173 27 73 0 71 Marshall Islands 175 163 29 NA NA 70 Saudi Arabia 175 168 28 74 23 69 Austria 175 177 27 80 8 68 Romania 175 175 27 72 22 67 Belarus 175 178 27 68 10 66 Turkey 175 174 27 73 67 65 Iraq 175 170 28 67 23 64 Italy 175 178 27 81 58 63 Netherlands 175 183 26 81 16 62 Uruguay 175 173 28 73 3 61 Denmark 175 181 26 79 5 60 Bosnia and Herzegovina 175 181 27 75 4 59 Micronesia (Federated States of) 175 169 28 69 0 58 Finland 175 180 27 79 5 57 Switzerland 175 178 27 82 7 56 Bermuda 175 173 28 NA NA 55 Slovenia 175 180 27 79 2 54 Saint Kitts and Nevis 176 170 28 NA 0 53 United Arab Emirates 176 170 28 77 3 52 Chile 176 172 28 77 15 51 Georgia 176 174 28 69 5 50 Spain 176 177 27 81 40 49 Serbia 176 181 27 74 10 48 Ukraine 176 178 27 66 49 47 Sweden 176 180 27 81 9 46 Montenegro 176 178 27 74 1 45 Occupied Palestinian Territory 176 172 28 NA NA 44 Bulgaria 176 178 27 72 8 43 Jordan 176 171 29 73 5 42 Luxembourg 176 178 27 81 0 41 Andorra 176 176 27 NA NA 40 Malta 176 173 28 80 0 39 Cyprus 176 175 28 79 1 38 Lithuania 176 179 27 69 4 37 Poland 176 177 28 74 39 36 Belgium 176 182 27 79 10 35 Argentina 176 175 28 74 37 34 Macedonia (TFYR) 176 178 27 74 2 33 Lebanon 176 174 28 75 4 32 Puerto Rico 176 172 28 NA NA 31 United Kingdom 176 177 27 80 60 30 Qatar 176 170 29 78 1 29 Kiribati 176 169 29 64 0 28 Palau 176 168 30 NA 0 27 Iceland 176 180 27 81 0 26 Canada 176 178 27 81 31 25 Israel 176 177 28 81 6 24 Estonia 176 182 27 73 1 23 Greece 176 177 28 79 11 22 Latvia 176 181 27 70 2 21 Slovakia 176 180 28 74 5 20 Norway 176 180 27 81 4 19 Germany 177 180 27 79 82 18 Nauru 177 168 32 NA NA 17 Kuwait 177 172 29 74 2 16 Australia 177 179 28 81 19 15 Tuvalu 177 170 30 NA NA 14 Saint Lucia 177 172 30 73 0 13 Hungary 177 177 28 73 10 12 New Zealand 177 178 28 81 4 11 Ireland 177 179 28 80 4 10 Czech Republic 177 180 28 76 10 9 Croatia 177 181 28 75 4 8 United States of America 178 177 29 77 282 7 Cook Islands 178 175 33 NA NA 6 American Samoa 178 176 33 NA NA 5 Samoa 178 174 31 72 0 4 Tokelau 178 175 32 NA NA 3 French Polynesia 178 177 30 NA NA 2 Niue 178 176 32 NA NA 1 Tonga 178 177 31 71 0
Notes. Effective stature is an actuarially fair measure of net nutritional status. It combines anthropometric and actuarial information and is meant to be interpreted as a general measure of living standards. Simply put, it is the combination of mean population height and mean population BMI (linear in the former and quadratic in the latter) that best tracks life expectancy. Effective stature contains roughly the same information as the Waaler Index. Our estimates are based on the Waaler surface we extracted from panel data. We have rescaled and recentered our estimates to match the mean and variance of average height across nations. One can thus think of it as effective or risk-adjusted stature.