Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

Left: Miami Heat Antoine Walker (left) pulls Houston Rockets Yao Ming shirt as he goes up for a shot during fourth quarter NBA basketball action in Miami, Florida on Sunday. -   Right: Akin has to bend when entering or leaving many rooms so as not to hit his head on the door ledge.

The average height of a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) is six feet seven and one-eighth inches. Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets is currently the tallest player at seven feet six inches.

Human height is regulated by many factors. Since the development of modern medicine and nutrient-rich food in the developed world, average height has increased dramatically. Nutrition is the most important factor in determining height; and height information from military records and other documents can be used to quite accurately compare nutrition and height in various eras.

Genetics

Genetics is a major factor in determining the height of individuals, though it is far less influential in regard to populations. Average height is increasingly used as a measure of the health and wellness (standard of living and quality of life) of populations. Attributed as a significant reason for the trend of increasing height in parts of Europe is the egalitarian populations where proper medical care and adequate nutrition are relatively equally distributed. Changes in diet (nutrition) and a general rise in quality of health care and standard of living are the cited factors in the Asian populations.

Average height in the United States has remained essentially stagnant since the 1950s. Severe malnutrition is known to cause stunted growth in the populations of North Korea, Africa, and historical Europe. Diet, exercise, fitness, pollution exposure, sleep patterns, climate and even happiness (psychological well-being) are other factors that can affect growth and final height.

Today, the Netherlands has the tallest average in the world with young men averaging 1.83m or six feet tall and only shorter than the peoples of the Dinaric Alps, where males average 1.856m or roughly six feet, one inch tall. The Dinaric Alps form a mountain chain in southern Europe, spanning areas of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania. So in terms of single country average, the Netherlands is tops.

On the shorter side of things, average male height in impoverished Vietnam remains comparatively small at 5 ft 4 in (1.63m).

Information gathered from http://en.wikipedia.org and http://www.nba.com/news/survey_2005.html.