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Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall in real life?

If you ever meet people from the countries surrounding the Baltic region then you'll know what I mean. They aren't just mostly tall but many are naturally very strong as well. Watch the strongest man in the world competitions and you'll notice many of them have that Nordic build and the ones that do best often come from those type of countries.

People of Scandinavian countries such as Norway & Sweden are usually tall so are people from the Russian side of the Baltic such as Lithuania & Latvia. This same blood seems to carry down to some of the Eastern European countries such as Poland, Slovakia & parts of Russia.


Anyone know why? Is it genetic or diet or something? Is it all that wild deer they eat?

inbreeding

Evolution maybe? I don't know how true any of what you said is but its possible.

It's because of genetics. You know, mutations. Though that about their presence in "Strongest man competitions" is more something cultural, like Chinese people in gimnastics.



That explains hair colour and constitution, more than height.

Chinese people are freakishly tall and so generally are beasts at basketball.

/stereotype.

Genetics at work really. Not that any individual couldn't get to such a bodily state. It might just be harder or sometimes even easier.

mead makes nord man strong.

This. I am wondering if this guy is trolling though.

Genetics. For thousounds of years they were battle-hardy people [censored] and pillaging wherever they go. thats hard work.
Australian's are tall and naturally strong too.

I'm from that region and I can answer your question.

It just is.
Plus, not everyone is a tall guy/gal.

The need the long legs to tred through all that deep snow they always have...

I'm Norwegian and i dont think were really that tall that you think.
I Myself is 180cm. and that is avarege for my age, im 18 btw.
but for people between 20-30 seem to be a little bit taller. 2-3cm taller probably.

Well, some Asian folks were also very combative and they weren't very tall (Mongols, for example), and the same could be said about lots of other peoples. So it's more at random. That's how evolution (in the sense of random mutations, not progression to better... maybe it's a stupid aclaration, but I don't want to look nazi) works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergmann%27s_rule In a colder climate you get bigger animals of the same species.
Bigger size gives you better volume to area ratio, and therefore better protection from cold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height#Average_height_around_the_world

Meaddrinker's link seems to be pretty well-supported by these numbers.

This


Really? Nah, it is just another stereotype alongside with our drinking habit and such.
I'm little over 180cm and I never drink, that conflicts against such thoughts.

For those of us who don't use the metric system, that's about 5'11". Which is actually taller than the global average. However that's slightly shorter than Norwegian average.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

I am Norwegian. If i should guess, the most likely answer is because of the way we have lived, and the things we eat.

Usually the more crowded people live, and the less meat and fish they eat, the smaller they are. A good example is that east-asians who grow up here in Norway, are generally quite much taller then their brothers in their homeland, only due to the food here.

A avarage Norwegian in the viking age was just slightly smaller then what our avarage height is today.

Inbreeding is not a good argument, arab and pakistanian people are far more inbreeded. Marrying with cousins etc. was never normal here.
Though, of course, the isolation has kept us more genetically unique(sadly about to change due to recent extreme globalisation, mass immigration and EU-no border control-policy).

The climate may also be a factor, at least when it comes to strength(and thus also height).

this

If you look again im very slightly above average on my age. 18-19.
and according to wiki i was pretty accurate for people on my age and for the people between 20-30ish :celebration:

Inbreeding actually existed a lot in Northern countries, but not with siblings and cousins. The thing is that towns where quite far form another, so they were close communities. Though, as I have said, that explain fair eyes, skin and hair, and not height. Height is partially genetical and partially because of the diet. When people in the rest of Europe had a diet consisting mainly in vegetables, northern people used to eat a lot of fish. I suppose that the difference between south-Europeans and north-Europeans' height was much more notably then, as northerners used to be depicted like some kind of giants. Now, it's a slight difference.

Iceland isn't on that list... :nope: We are probably similar to the Norwegians though... common ancestors and all that [censored]. We are strong though, as you can see if you take a look at the previous champions in the Worlds Strongest Man competition.

I'm not very tall, I'm only 172cm (5'8 methinks) but I'm pretty damn strong, which works out fine for me since I love BJJ and I rarely lose grappling matches. ^_^

My favourite heavy metal band Sabaton, is from Sweden. They look tall,tough and strong on pictures and in videos. I met them in real life (after the concert) and I was suprised how short they were. :sadvaultboy:

pff, Sabaton is too awesome for this [censored]. :rock:

But it doesn't explain the Inuit or the Tutsi, other than calling the Inuit "exceptions", and it doesn't mention the Tutsi at all.
There are also native American tribes, like the Cree, who live in pretty cold climate in Canada, and they aren't that tall either.
Edit to add Samoans.

Towns still are far from eachother, compared to rest of europe anyway. But in terms of non-family inbreeding ur right yes. But i dont think that was too diffrent in many other countries either with the exception of the biggest towns. Scandinavia, and Norway and iceland especially, is just geographically isolated and has thus untill now been shielded from immigration. Now of course the doors are wide open so you can allready see in statistics that we are being ethnically cleansed, just regionally at the moment but over 100years or so the effect will be huge. Its ironic that those who claim to cherish diversity, are the ones who are also destroying it, by blending everything into a soup and making only the strongest surivive, with unnatural scope due to the extreme globalisation and lack of natural limitations in this modern world. But thats rather off-topic i guess .