What height is considered average/small/tall for an Irish person?

Phoenix Wright

I was reading this article and it got me thinking: http://www.joe.ie/fitness-health/good-news-lads-were-all-getting-taller/369963

Where do we draw the line between a tall man or a small man? If 5'9 is the average male height in Ireland then is anything below that short and anything above that tall? Or is there a range of heights where a person is considered small, tall or average?

Also, is there similar criteria for women? Do women and men have different boundaries for what they consider to be short/tall when they look at the same and opposite genders?

Of course, height doesn't define a person's worth and an inch or two in height is pretty insignificant in most circumstances, but I'm interested to hear other people's opinions on this.

Luno

I am 5 foot 4 and most people consider me quite small even though according to many websites that is actually the average height for a female.

Phoenix Wright

Luno wrote: »

I am 5 foot 4 and most people consider me quite small even though according to many websites that is actually the average height for a female.

I personally wouldn't consider that small. My girlfriend is the same height as you and has been told the exact same thing.

mejulie805

Petite clothing is designed for women who are 5"3 and below, so I'd personally consider that a benchmark. Also I shop in the petite section

Phoenix Wright

mejulie805 wrote: »

Petite clothing is designed for women who are 5"3 and below, so I'd personally consider that a benchmark. Also I shop in the petite section

Do you think anything over 5"3 is tall in that case then?

mejulie805

Ha, to me, they are all giants!!

But in reality, the counter part of the petite definition is that tall is considered 5"8 or above- so I guess between 5"3 and 5"8 is.. regular height?

Seanf999

I wouldn't consider and exact height average, I mean coming from a maths point I view it has to be an exact number but I would consider between 5'6 - 6'0 average for a man (fairly big gap)
And between 5'3 - 5'6 average for female..
No reason behind those numbers other then they look right to me..

Valentina

Phoenix Wright wrote: »

Do you think anything over 5"3 is tall in that case then?

To me, 5'3" is small

I'm 5'7.5" and am taller than most of my friends and colleagues although I would consider myself to be average. My sister is 5'10" so I would say that's tall.

Dee15

I'm 6 foot and I would consider anything from 5"10 tall for a woman and anything under 5"4 small for a woman (although almost everyone is small to me 😊)

meeeeh

I think younger generations are taller, so it really depends who you are comparing yourself with. 5'4 is probably quite accurate for women in general but I would say there would be quite a bit of a difference between generations. I would guess that 5'4 is probably also on the low side in comparison to majority of European countries and North America. Pettitte or tall clothing isn't necessarily adapted to Irish market.

eviltimeban

I was just thinking this morning that guys are getting taller. I'm 6'5" and have always felt taller than most, but recently I've noticed a lot of (younger) taller guys around the place.

Tall girls I would say 5'9 or 10 maybe?

mailforkev

My age group (mid 30s) are taller than our parents but even early 20s guys are already slightly taller on average than us I reckon.

I'm 6'1 so never felt small here but I'm probably only average in the Netherlands. Loads of women taller than me there, which is very rare here.

Tallest I ever felt was in South America, they're not big people.

scrimshanker

I'm 5'6, I'd say I'm average. Anything under 5'4 I'd consider small for my generation.

Fat Christy

I'm a 5'9 female, I'd class myself as tall.

Renegade Mechanic

6'5" reporting in. Yer all shorties

Ave Sodalis

I'm 5'9/5'10 and would consider myself tall (female) but not towering.

Squall Leonhart

5'10" male here and I'd consider myself an average height, feel short around a lot of my friends!

Phoenix Wright

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

5'10" male here and I'd consider myself an average height, feel short around a lot of my friends!

Took the words out of my mouth..

Phoenix Wright

For me, anything over 6" 0 is tall while anything below 5" 8 is maybe short for a male. So anything between that is "normal" I guess.

With women it's a little more tricky. I think I'd consider a women near my height (5" 10) to be quite tall, so maybe 5" 8 and over? As for a woman being small, I wouldn't notice too much usually so maybe 5" 2 and under?

The generation differences seems to be true in my experience, I'm taller than the majority of my relatives (thankfully)

scrimshanker

Haha, the only adults in my extended family who are smaller than me are my grannies.. I'm the family shorty :P

jimmii

I used to live in Kenya being 6'3" there made me feel like a giant! I would think here <5'7" would definitely be on the small side and >6'2" tall for anyone <40. On the tall side when you find its hard to get clothes/shoes to fit then you are definitely tall. Places never seem to have a full stock of shoes over size 11.

ec18

i'm 5'10/11 and i'd consider that average height for a guy and maybe 5'6/7 for ladies?

FortuneChip

eviltimeban wrote: »

I was just thinking this morning that guys are getting taller.

Are you sure?
I didn't get any taller this morning!

Almen11

I'd personally consider 5'10 average for lads but I still think that's short enough.. I'm a 5'8 female though and I consider myself to be a small but taller than average, so I'd say average for a female would be 5'7 - 5'5

Lia_lia

I'd say for women anything under 5'2" is small and anything over 5'8" is tall. Everything in between is fairly average. I'm about 5'9.5". Many people totally overestimate my height and reckon I'm 6 foot. But then again I have noticed a lot of people add a few inches on to their own height, especially men.

Fat Christy

Lia_lia wrote: »

I'd say for women anything under 5'2" is small and anything over 5'8" is tall. Everything in between is fairly average. I'm about 5'9.5". Many people totally overestimate my height and reckon I'm 6 foot. But then again I have noticed a lot of people add a few inches on to their own height, especially men.

Yeah, I'm 5'9 and I've noticed the same. 'Jaysus you're awful tall, you must be 6 foot'

ratmouse

Just something to consider. Some of the Irish "models" are 5'6/5'7" and no, they are not petite models. So if that's the height in Ireland's modelling world then I'm guessing it takes alot to be considered really short and not too much to be considered really tall!

Almen11

ratmouse wrote: »

Just something to consider. Some of the Irish "models" are 5'6/5'7" and no, they are not petite models. So if that's the height in Ireland's modelling world then I'm guessing it takes alot to be considered really short and not too much to be considered really tall!

Georgia Salpa is 5'7! But no most agencies require a model to be over 5,8 if it's for fashion modelli but like most lingerie models are fairly short!

endacl

Renegade Mechanic wrote: »

6'5" reporting in. Yer all shorties

Same. Nice to meet a fellow normal, living in a world designed for hobbits.

ratmouse

Almen11 wrote: »

Georgia Salpa is 5'7! But no most agencies require a model to be over 5,8 if it's for fashion modelli but like most lingerie models are fairly short!

Described as one of Ireland's leading models, Nadia Forde is 5'7"!

meeeeh

Any serius model I think is expected to be over 5'8". Kate Moss is one of the few exceptions and it just shows how good she is at what she does.

The measurements so called Irish models have (not just height) can work for pr stunts and glamour stuff but none of them would get anywhere in high fashion modelling. They are pretty girls, looks wise I bet a lot would find them very attractive but describing them as models in traditional sense is a bit stretching it.

chaoskitten_DF

I'm the smallest person in the thread so far...
4' 11" female here.
(Even petite section stuff is too long for me a lot of the time)

Fat Christy

chaoskitten_DF wrote: »

I'm the smallest person in the thread so far...
4' 11" female here.
(Even petite section stuff is too long for me a lot of the time)

It's nearly a disability at your height.

panda100

6'1 female here. I feckin hope Irish people hurry up and grow I am sick of standing out a mile for my height. I've contemplated moving countries numerous times because people can be so rude about height here. Nobody would call a fat person fat to their face, but they have no problem calling tall people 'freakishly' tall or 'giants'.


Saying that I do feel height is all relative and I think it only interferes with your life when you are outside the considered norms. I would consider that over 5'11 for a women and under 5'5 for a man.

Dial Hard

I'd consider 5'6" - 5' 7" average for a woman and 5' 11" - 6' average for a man.

Anything below that seems short to me for either sex, but I accept that my perception might just be skewed, cause at 5'7" I'm the shortest person in my family.

AulBiddy

Well I am 5'2 and I'm 18, but most 13/14/15 year old girls are taller than me and the boys are awfully tall too (most at least 6 foot and over). It's safe to say that younger generations will change the average height demographics