Yeah, average height increases by about 1 cm a decade and doesn't really seem to be slowing down in most countries (apart from America, but that's supposed to be because America is kinda fked). I believe the height and social class thing still exists too. Natural selection, living conditions, nutrition, weird hormones in the food, whatever, it all helps doesn't it.
I go to a Russell Group university in the UK. These are the top 20 universities. Typically, I'd say they have the tallest students because you don't really need to be smart to go to them- just rich, with a good private school education (that buys good enough grades for one of these universities, without much work, which means a lot of the students here are also sheltered and thick as crap lol). What I mean by that is that privileged students get here and it's not necessarily a meritorious selection process. My university is also apparently the sportiest university in the UK which I think has a big effect on the tallness of the students. It is really full of private school students, anyway. Apparently Oxford and Cambridge have a lower than average height, mostly to do with the overseas students. Anyway.
When I walk around my city I'd say maybe I'm taller than 20-25% of men if I discount the old guys. (I also think my height neurosis plays some tricks on me here, but I would say that percentage might even be generous- I'm scraping 5'8 but I wonder at these percentiles). But that's around my nice middle class area. If I go to some of the outer areas where everyone's on heroin I feel pretty damn average, maybe a shade short.
Walking around my university.. maybe taller than 10-15%? Maybe I should keep notes
There are a lot of extremely tall guys too. I often see guys over 6'4. I sometimes feel so short I question whether I actually am 5'8, lol.
A lot of white girls are also as tall or taller than me but there's more variation there. They either all seem to be 5'9 or 5'3. But I'm still legit a "woman" height here.
I'd say the "average" here begins at 5'10 and is probably around a solid 5'11 and even up to 6'0. 6'3 is still pretty giant though, as it is anywhere else. I still feel short, like in the bottom third, if I wear 1.2 inch lifts in my shoes (without heels though, which a lot of guys wear).
Contrast that to a club I went to last weekend. It was not the creme de la creme of local society, and there weren't any students there either. There were a lot of short guys there, which was interesting. I was probably taller than 40% or even 50% with my 1.2 inch lifts in, which seems about right to me statistically- even a bit tall. I went with a couple of 5'11-6'1 friends who were among the taller/tallest guys. And I really was taller than almost all the women, which was more fun.
I think the average for white men in our generation, in the UK/USA/Australia/New Zealand is something like 178 cm and I don't think that's a wrong average but I think it really does depend on social class and situation by a large amount. I read in France middle-class professionals and university students are on average an inch taller. 180 cm sounds solidly average at my university, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lower-class person, on average, had an inch or so less than the total average too.
I grew up in a heavily working class area and I don't feel anywhere near as short there.
