Climate effects on stature since circa 1800

The influence of climatic factors on variations in adult height has been documented by different scholars over the last decade (Baten, 2002; Steckel and Rose, 2002; Komlos, 2003; and Koepke and Baten, 2005). This paper is based on individual data from a collection of previous anthropometric studies and newly available data from high-resolution palaeo-climate reconstructions and presents new evidence about climate as a determinant of human stature, being stature a health indicator and a measure to the standards of living. We first examine the complex relationship between humans and climate by presenting a new model that explores this relationship. We then evaluate the datasets and show results about the extent to which the climate has affected human stature in adults born in 10 countries located on Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America over the last 200 years.