Credit: Public domain.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy 산업통상자원부, which studied body measurements of children aged 7 to 19 for purposes of setting industrial standards, South Korea’s children are significantly taller than a decade ago. The average height of elementary school-aged boys (aged 7 to 11) increased by 4.3 centimeters over the previous study (2011-2013), and girls by 2.8 centimeters. The average height of middle school-aged boys (aged 12 to 14) increased by 7.4 centimeters, girls by 3.3 centimeters.
The study also found that South Korean children finish growing earlier. Boys finish growing around age 14 to 15, girls between 13 to 14 - two years earlier, in both cases, than found by the study a decade ago.