http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,781616,00.html
Britons stand tall, if slightly heavy, in Europe
John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday August 28, 2002
The Guardian
Not every European dimension has been harmonised in Brussels yet. According
to the Department for Trade and Industry, the average Briton stands head,
shoulders, girth and bottoms above their continental partners.
The figures come in a new edition of the department's handbook of
anthropometric and strength measurements, compiled by ergonomists at the
University of Nottingham to help manufacturers design products to fit
people's shape.
The volume provides 294 measurements ranging from the distance between the
inner corners of the eyes to the length of the leg between the crease below
the buttock to the crease at the back of the knee.
It has discovered that the average British man is 36 millimetres (1 inches)
taller than his French counterpart.
The mean height of UK citizens is 1,755.1mm (5ft 9in). Among European men
only the Dutch are taller, averaging 1,795mm and with a clear height
advantage over the US men's average of 1,760.4.
The average British woman is 1,620mm tall (just under 5ft 4in), compared
with 1,604mm for her French counterpart, 1,610mm for the Italians and
1,619mm for the Germans. Swedish women average 1,640mm, Dutch 1,650mm and
Americans 1,626.7mm
More disturbingly, British men and women are heavier than all the other
nationalities except the Americans, averaging 79.75 kilos for British men
and 66.7 for women.
The average British woman has a chest measurement of 1,007.8mm (39.7
inches), compared with 965mm for the Italians, 912.6mm for the Japanese and
806mm for Sri Lankans. American women also top this scale with an average of
1,047.2mm.
The average British woman's waist is 840.6mm (33 inches) - also second
largest behind the Americans. But her bottom at 873.7mm is considerably
smaller than the Italians at 916mm who beat the Americans into second place.
The average British male foot is 266.8mm long (10.5 inches), 6mm longer than
the French and Germans, 3mm more than the Italians and 1mm more than the
Swedes. But they are just beaten by the Americans at 267.8mm and massively
outstripped by the Dutch at 275mm.
However Dutch women have daintier feet than the British, averaging 240mm
compared with 241.1mm in the UK (9.5 inches). German women average 242mm,
compared with 245mm for the Swedes and 242.1mm for the Americans.
The DTI has a less than exhaustive record of ring finger lengths, but on the
available evidence the British man's finger at 78.7mm (3.1 inches) is 1.7mm
longer than his German counterpart, but 0.2mm shorter than the American
average.
The British woman's ring finger at 72.6mm is 0.4mm smaller than her German
counterpart and 0.3mm smaller than the American.
Beverley Norris, research fellow at Nottingham university's institute for
occupational ergonomics, said the figures were useful for product designers.
The department has recently completed a study of the pulling force needed to
open ring pull cans.
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