Men taller than 1.95 m: How many of us are there?

Once you're over 1.95 m, it's a whole new world.

The jeans end at the ankle, the shirt sleeves are too short, and the jackets sometimes look like they belong to a little brother.

And when you're 2.05 m or 2.10 m tall, your options are even more limited.

You end up asking yourself: How many of us are actually over 1.95 m tall?

In France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, we face the same challenges. Yet, our proportion of the population varies significantly from country to country.

Scientific studies help us understand why.

1. In which countries are the tallest men found?

Dutch men are among the tallest in the world.

According to research by the international scientific collaboration NCD-RisC, published in The Lancet in 2020, the average height of 19-year-old boys was 183.8 cm in the Netherlands in 2019.

By way of comparison, it was approximately 180.3 cm in Germany, 178.6 cm in France, and 174.4 cm in Italy.

The differences between countries are therefore considerable.

A man who is 1.95 m tall is about 11 cm taller than the average young Dutch man, but more than 20 cm taller than the average young Italian man.

Being tall is not statistically as rare in Amsterdam, Paris, or Rome.

And this difference directly affects the number of people likely to be looking for extra-long clothing.

2. How many men are taller than 1.95 m?

To answer this question, we need to understand the distribution of human heights.

Researchers have found that adult size roughly follows a bell curve, known as a normal distribution.

An international analysis presented by Our World in Data indicates a standard deviation for men of 7.59 cm. This measurement is used to estimate the proportion of people taller than a given height.

We used this model to illustrate the possible prevalence of men taller than 1.95 m in eight countries.

Important: These results are theoretical estimates, not directly observed percentages. The first six European averages are based on NCD-RisC estimates for 19-year-old men in 2019. The U.S. average is from the CDC for adults aged 20 and older in 2015–2018, and the Canadian average is from Statistics Canada for men aged 20 to 39 in 2009–2011. The populations and time periods are therefore not perfectly comparable. A uniform standard deviation of 7.59 cm was applied to each average to illustrate the possible differences between countries.

These figures do not allow us to conclude that exactly 7% of Dutch adults or 0.47% of American adults are taller than 1.95 m.

Instead, they show just how much the prevalence of very tall men depends on the average height of the population.

3. In the United States and Canada, what do the official figures show?

North America is a particularly interesting market: very tall men are relatively rare there, but they live in densely populated countries.

In the United States, the CDC published a major national survey based on data collected between 2015 and 2018.

The average height of adult men was 175.3 cm.

The 95th percentile was 187.4 cm. In other words, about 95% of the adult men measured were no taller than that.

A man who is 1.95 m tall therefore belongs to an even smaller segment of the population.

In Canada, Statistics Canada reported an average height of 177.7 cm for men aged 20 to 39in its 2009–2011 survey.

For this same age group, the 95th percentile was 187.69 cm.

These results confirm a fact: it is unusual to be taller than 1.95 m on either side of the North American border.

But when you consider the size of the U.S. and Canadian populations, even a small proportion can represent a significant number of people.

4. And how many of us are over 2 meters tall?

At 2 meters and up, we enter an even rarer category.

The reason is mathematical: the further one moves away from the average height, the more rapidly the proportion of people affected decreases.

Let's take the example of a male population with a mean height of 180 cm and a standard deviation of 7.59 cm.

According to the statistical model:

• Approximately 2.64% of men are taller than 1.95 m.

• About 0.42% are estimated to be taller than 2 meters.

These are simulation results, not official statistics for a specific country.

Nevertheless, they illustrate a key phenomenon: between 1.95 meters and 2 meters, the relevant population decreases sharply.

And at 2.10 m, it becomes even rarer.

It is precisely for these body types that traditional clothing options reach their limits.

5. Why do big retailers offer us so few clothing options?

In traditional ready-to-wear fashion, collections are designed to meet the needs of the broadest possible audience.

That's an understandable business rationale.

When a retailer manufactures tens of thousands of pairs of pants, it naturally prioritizes the sizes and lengths that account for the bulk of its sales.

Men who are 1.95 m, 2.05 m, or taller make up much smaller segments.

And the challenges aren't just about leg length.

Pants

An inseam of 86 or 91 cm, even when marketed as a long length, may not be long enough for some very tall men.

The knee height, crotch depth, and overall proportions must also be adjusted.

Shirts

A shirt can fit perfectly across the shoulders but still be much too short in the sleeves or across the chest.

Choosing a larger size doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

Jackets

A tall, slender man may find himself forced to choose a size XXL to gain a few centimeters in length, at the cost of a garment that ends up being much too loose.

That's the difference between plus-size clothing and extra-long clothing.

6. A scattered but very real community

You only have to travel to see that very tall men exist everywhere.

In the Netherlands, they are more common. In France, Germany, and Belgium, they constitute a visible minority. In the United States and Canada, they are scattered across vast territories.

Not everyone has the same body type.

Some are tall and slender. Others are tall and muscular. Some are looking for modern jeans, while others are looking for stylish shirts, suits, or casual clothing.

But we often have the same experience: we find a piece of clothing we like, only to discover that it doesn't come in the right length.

We don't all live in the same country. But we all face the same problem.

7. So, how many of us are there, really?

Scientific data allow us to gauge how rare we are, but they do not yet provide an exact and comparable figure for the number of men taller than 1.95 m across Europe, the United States, and Canada.

To calculate this total, we would need to have size distributions representative of each adult population and then compare them with the male population by age.

What the studies have already shown us is significant: we represent a small minority in every country, with considerable differences among populations.

But being in the minority doesn't mean we don't exist.

We are an international community that shares specific needs, expectations, and a simple desire: to be able to choose our own clothes, just like everyone else.

We aren't asking for special treatment. We simply want to have a choice.

Our size is not an exception that needs to be corrected.

This is a body type that's hard to dress.

Wilfried, founder of VertigeTall

Sources and Methodology

NCD-RisC — The Lancet (2020) : an international study of the body sizes of children and adolescents, covering 200 countries and territories.

https://www.ncdrisc.org/data-downloads-height.html

Our World in Data — Human Height : presentation of height distributions and their standard deviations.

https://ourworldindata.org/human-height

CDC — Anthropometric Reference Data, United States, 2015–2018 : U.S. statistics on height by age and sex.

https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/100478

Statistics Canada — Canadian Health Measures Survey, 2009–2011 : measured heights and percentiles by sex and age.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-626-x/2013001/t023-eng.htm

The estimated proportions in this article are calculated based on a normal distribution, with a hypothetical standard deviation of 7.59 cm. They are intended to compare orders of magnitude and do not constitute a census of very tall men.