Photo: Xinhua

The average height of Chinese men increased by nearly 9 centimeters over 35 years between 1985 and 2019. This has become a trending topic on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Wednesday, with over 104,000 likes. 

According to a report on the nutrition and chronic diseases of Chinese residents released by China's National Health Commission last year, the average height of Chinese residents has continued to increase in recent years. 

The average height for male and female residents aged between 18 and 44 increased by 1.2 centimeters and 0.8 centimeter respectively, compared with the figures of five years earlier, while boys and girls aged between 6 and 17 increased by 1.6 centimeters and 1 centimeter respectively over the period. 

A global survey published in the medical journal The Lancet in November 2020 also shows that the Chinese population is getting taller with the average height of Chinese males seeing the biggest rise between 1985 and 2019 among all the 200 countries and regions surveyed, while that of women ranked third. The report says the average height of 19-year-old Chinese males is 175.7 cm, and that of Chinese females is 163.5 cm.

Many netizens agreed with the conclusion of the survey results by comparing their height with the younger generations. 

One netizen commented that the increase of height of Chinese children is the result of better nutrition from milk and meat that older generations did not have.