About 5 years ago we interviewed a guy for a position with our firm who was 7’2″ tall (yes, he played college basketball). I had never stood next to someone that tall – it was really shocking. If you know someone really tall, like 6’8″ (about 1 in 8,000 males), now imagine someone six inches taller than that! Crazy.
According to the Centers of Disease Control, the median height for American men is 69.2 inches (5’9.2’\”) and women is 63.7 inches (5’3.7″). This means that half of the adult males in the U.S. are taller than 5’9″ and half are shorter.
The standard deviation for height is 2.9 inches for males and 2.7 inches for females. This means 68% of U.S. males are between 6’2.1″ and 5’6.3″ and 68% of females are within 5’6.4″ and 5’1″. Further, 95% of males are between 6’3″ and 5’3.4″ and 95% of females are between 5’9.1″ and 4’10.3″. Only about 1% of U.S. women are 6 feet tall or more and about 1% of U.S. men are 6’4″ or taller.
Here’s a chart from tall.life showing height distribution:
So, how many 7 foot tall people are there? It’s hard to gauge as being 7 foot tall is a 5 standard deviation event and billions of people live in poverty (which affects height) and throws off the statistics. In researching this topic the most common estimate is that there are about 2,000 – 3,000 7 foot tall (or taller) people in the world. That is one in about 2-4 million people meaning, statistically, that only about 85 – 150 people in the U.S. are 7 foot tall or taller. In 2011 Paul Torre of Sports Illustrated estimated that only about 70 American men between the ages of 20-40 are 7 foot tall or taller. So, being 7 foot tall is very rare.
Fun fact: The Chinese Government wanted the best basketball champions, so they thought that a 6’7″ man and a 6’3″ woman would have the tallest kid to have China be the champion. So they were forced to have a child. His name was Yao Ming. With Ming being a head taller than everyone else, and doctors prescribing growth hormones to make him taller, he was 6’6″ at just 12., just like Shaq. He grew up to be 7’6″!
R/iamverybadasa
I’m 8ft tall and get so much pussy it’s tedious. I need a tailor to make a custom mink so I can start pumping these hoes.
Bro your not 8ft tall, The tallest man alive was 8ft tall.
Sultan Kösen, the tallest living person, is 8ft 3in. Robert Wadlow was an inch shy of 9ft.
It must be tough to be so tall and shy.
Nope. 😑
From someone at the short end of the curve, just made it within the 95% of women, it’s not surprising the number of “tall” people, from the land of the Lilliputians gives one a different perspective! Haha
John, I’m surprised that you forgot that I’m 7’5″ tall. It’s odd, because I was never asked to play college basketball. What’s up with that?