最近对世界各国身高数据感兴趣，查询了维基百科的人类身高词条，然后看到第一次产业革命时期荷兰人身高的矮小和倒退，终于明白了19世纪中期欧洲为什么会有波澜壮阔的工人革命了，那时工人的生存确实太艰难了。

18、19世纪西方人的身材并不高大，一切得益于战后西方经济的复兴给西方人提供了足够的营养供给倍增，他们吃到了比祖辈多得多的牛奶和肉类，因而身高暴增，西方人的饮食相对其他民族就是纯粹的肉食动物了，巨量的奶、肉、蛋和鱼让西方人身高倍增，中国人会在很长时间都无法达到西方人那样的肉食水平的，所以中国人的身高会达到北欧人和韩国人之间的一种高度，韩国受制于国力，韩国通过工业所能交换到的进口农产品是受到国力制约的，自从韩国完成工业化和城镇化后，韩国人新生代的身高就再也没有增长了，韩国新生代10年没有长个了，这其实表明韩国的营养供给倍增的停滞。


维基词条Human height（人类身高）里有History of human height（人类身高的历史），里面有很多有意思的西方身高的历史数据，我们可以知道近代欧洲和北美的状况。

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height

History of human height
人类身高的历史

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people of European descent in North America were far taller than those in Europe and were the tallest in the world.[9] The original indigenous population of Plains Native Americans was also among the tallest populations of the world at the time.
在18至19世纪，北美的欧洲血统人群是当时世界最高大的人群，比他们欧洲同辈都要高。

In the late nineteenth century, the Netherlands was a land renowned for its short population, but today its population is among the world's tallest with young men averaging 183.8 cm (6 ft 0.4 in) tall.[43]
在19世纪后期，荷兰人是有名的矮个子人群，但是今天荷兰人已经是世界最高大的人群了，荷兰男性青年平均身高达到183.8公分。

According to a study by Economist John Komlos and Francesco Cinnirella, in the first half of the 18th century, the average height of an English male was 165 cm (5 ft 5 in), and the average height of an Irish male was 168 cm (5 ft 6 in). The estimated mean height of English, German, and Scottish soldiers was 163.6 cm – 165.9 cm (5 ft 4.4 in – 5 ft 5.3 in) for the period as a whole, while that of Irish was 167.9 cm (5 ft 6.1 in). The average height of male slaves and convicts in North America was 171 cm (5 ft 7 in).[44]
根据经济学家约翰·克穆洛斯和弗朗西斯科·悉尼瑞拉的研究表明，在18世纪上半叶，英国男性的平均身高是165公分，爱尔兰人是168公分。英格兰、德意志和苏格兰士兵的估算平均高度在163.6公分至165.9公分之间，而爱尔兰士兵的身高是167.9公分，北美的奴隶和罪犯的平均身高是171公分。

American-born colonial soldiers of the late 1770s were on average more than 7.6 cm (3 inches) taller than their English counterparts who served in Royal Marines at the same time.[45]
在1770年代后期在北美殖民地出生的士兵身高比同时期在英国服役的海军士兵高7.6公分。

Average height of Americans and Europeans decreased during periods of rapid industrialization, possibly due to rapid population growth and increased economic inequality.[46] In early 19th century England, the difference between average height of English upper class youth (students of Sandhurst Military Academy) and English lower class youth (Marine Society boys) reached 22 cm (8.7 in), the highest that has been observed.[47]
但是在后来的快速工业化时期，北美和欧洲白人的身高都变矮了，可能是由于快速的人口增长和伴生的经济不平等导致。在19世纪早期，英国的上等阶层青年（英国陆军军官学校的学生）比下等阶层青年士兵要高22公分，由于社会的不平等，这种不同阶层的最大身高落差出现了。

Data derived from burials show that before 1850, the mean stature of males and females in Leiden, Netherlands was respectively 166.7 cm (5 ft 5.6 in) and 156.7 cm (5 ft 1.7 in). The average height of 19-year-old Dutch orphans in 1865 was 160 cm (5 ft 3 in).[48]
从1850年荷兰莱顿埋葬记录，可以知道男性和女性身高分别是166.7公分和156.7公分，而1865年19岁的荷兰孤儿的平均身高是160公分。

According to a study by J.W. Drukker and Vincent Tassenaar, the average height of Dutch decreased from 1830 to 1857, even while Dutch real GNP per capita was growing at an average rate of more than 0.5 percent per year. The worst decline were in urban areas that in 1847, the urban height penalty was 2.5cms (1 in). Urban mortality was also much higher than rural regions. In 1829, the average urban and rural Dutchman was 164 cm (5 ft 4.6 in). By 1856, the average rural Dutchman was 162 cm (5 ft 3.8 in) and urban Dutchman was 158.5 cm (5 ft 2.4 in).[49]
根据J·W·德鲁克和文森特·塔森纳的研究表明，从1830年到1857年荷兰人的身高变矮了，而当时荷兰的实际人均GDP增长率超过0.5个百分点。但在1847年荷兰城市出现的身高倒退是2.5公分的情况，城市的死亡率也比农村要高。在1829年，荷兰人的平均身高是164公分，但到了1856年，农村的荷兰人身高只有162公分，而城市的荷兰人身高只有158.5公分了（城市工人竟然比农村的农民的身高还低了）。（译者按：回忆中学的世界历史课本，难怪19世纪中期，欧洲到处是工人革命，工人揭竿而起反抗资产阶级，城市工人的生活水平变差了，而且是极差，否则不会出现如此的体质下降状况。）

A 2004 report citing a 2003 UNICEF study on the effects of malnutrition in North Korea, due to "successive famines," found young adult males to be significantly shorter.[specify] In contrast South Koreans "feasting on an increasingly Western-influenced diet," without famine, were growing taller. The height difference is minimal for Koreans over 40, who grew up at a time when economic conditions in the North were roughly comparable to those in the South, while height disparities are most acute for Koreans who grew up in the mid-1990s – a demographic in which South Koreans are about 12 cm (4.7 in) taller than their North Korean counterparts – as this was a period during which the North was affected by a harsh famine.[50] A study by South Korean anthropologists of North Korean children who had defected to China found that 18-year-old males were 5 inches shorter than South Koreans their age due to malnutrition.[51]
一份2004年的报告援引2003年联合国儿童基金会的研究表明由于持续的饥荒北朝鲜出现普遍的营养不良现象，北朝鲜的年青人的身高显著的变矮了。对比韩国棒子受到西方潮流影响而没有饥荒的饱食，棒子长高了。朝鲜和韩国在40岁左右的成人身高具有最小的落差，而1990年代中期成年的棒子比朝鲜人高12公分，这是残酷的饥荒导致的结果。研究表明，韩国人类学家观察到朝鲜的脱北者中18岁男性身高比韩国棒子的同龄人要矮12.7公分，这显然是营养不良的产物。