The average height of women in Russia was 159.5 centimetres in 2024, according to newly released anthropometric data from the state statistics service Rosstat.
The figure, published in autumn 2025, covers women of all ages, though researchers note the average for working age adults is higher.
The average Russian woman is eight centimetres taller if she lives in Moscow compared with the Republic of Tyva, but remains shorter than her peers in the Netherlands and Germany, while being taller than women in the United States and Brazil.
Height peaks between 18 and 20 years of age before stabilising, and can begin to decrease from age 50 due to postural changes, bone tissue loss and thinning intervertebral discs. Data relies on averages, often using self reported figures that can contain inaccuracies, while different research groups use various methods, and posture during measurement can also affect the result.
A 2016 study by the Russian health ministry's Central Research Institute of Health Organization and Informatics, supported by the Russian Science Foundation, examined 3.72 million people, which was 2.6 per cent of the population at the time. It found the average height of Russian women aged between 18 and 30 was 165 centimetres, placing the country 43rd out of 200 nations in research by the international NCD Risk Factor Collaboration.
Regional variations across Russia
The tallest Russian women, averaging 165 centimetres, live in heavily urbanised and industrialised areas including Moscow and the surrounding region, St Petersburg, the Krasnoyarsk, Primorsky and Khabarovsk territories, and the Leningrad, Pskov, Murmansk and Saratov regions.
Shorter women, averaging under 164 centimetres, predominantly live in national republics such as Tyva, Chuvashia, Komi, Udmurtia, Mari El, Altai and Yakutia. The differences are attributed to a mix of genetics, urbanisation levels and socio economic conditions.
Global heights and rapid growth in Asia
The NCD Risk Factor Collaboration lists the Netherlands as having the tallest women in the world at an average of 170.4 centimetres, followed by Montenegro at 170.0, Denmark at 169.5, Iceland at 168.9 and Latvia at 168.8. Researchers link the height in northern and central Europe to genetics and childhood diets rich in dairy protein and calcium.
The world's shortest women are in Guatemala at 150.9 centimetres, ahead of Bangladesh and Nepal at 152.4, Madagascar at 153.1, the Philippines at 154.1 and the Maldives at 154.3. These lowest averages are typically found in South Asia, South East Asia, East Africa and Latin America.
South Korean women have grown by 21 centimetres over the past century in one of the world's highest increases, driven by rapid urbanisation and improved diets. China is also showing rapid growth.
A century of changing heights
Scientists call the continuous increase in human height in developed countries over the last century a secular trend, driven by better living conditions, wealth, nutrition and medical care.
Globally, women's average height has increased from 151 to 159 centimetres in 100 years, according to an NCD Risk Factor Collaboration analysis of 1,472 studies covering 18.6 million people in 200 countries.
In Russia, the average woman's height was 153.6 centimetres in 1896, when widespread malnutrition, hard physical labour and a lack of medicine kept figures low. This increased to 160.06 centimetres by the mid 20th century, 163.81 centimetres in the 1990s, and 165.27 centimetres in 1996. Women born in the 2000s average 165.42 centimetres.
The 11.7 centimetre increase for Russian women between 1896 and 1996 outpaced the 9.35 centimetre growth for men over the same period. Anthropologists estimate the growth rate for Russian women has been about 0.78 centimetres per decade since the 1940s and 1950s.
Regional height leaders have also shifted. Women in the Pskov and Volgograd regions were tallest in the 1940s and 1950s, averaging 163.20 and 163.00 centimetres respectively. By the end of the century, the tallest women were in the Astrakhan region at 170.10 centimetres, the Krasnodar territory at 166.71 centimetres and the Altai territory at 165.80 centimetres.
The biological limit
Five year old girls in Russia today are approximately six centimetres taller than those born 20 years ago, reflecting better nutrition and childcare since the early 2000s.
Between the ages of five and 19, Russian girls grow an average of 53 centimetres. Specialists highlight the first year of life, ages six to eight, and ages 13 to 15 as critical periods where conditions most strongly influence growth.
However, some scientists suggest humanity is nearing its biological limit for height, noting that growth has practically stopped in the Netherlands, indicating the body may have reached its evolutionary optimum.
