Growing taller, living longer? Anthropometric history and the future of old age

In recent years, economic and social historians have made increasing use of
anthropometric records (principally, records of human height and weight) to
investigate changes in human health and well-being. This paper summarises
some of the main ®ndings of this research and demonstrates the remarkable
increases in human height which have occurred during the course of the
present century. The paper also examines the relationship between changes in
average height and changes in life expectancy. Although most of the evidence
assembled by anthropometric historians has been derived from records
relating to schoolchildren and young adults, their work has profound
implications for the study of health in old age. The concluding section
examines the relevance of this work to current debates on the decline of
mortality, the `compression of morbidity' and the future of social policy.