Is 180 cm tall in North Korea?

A man of 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) is taller than about 84% of men in North Korea. That counts as tall here, though not rare. For a woman, 180 cm is taller than >99% of women in North Korea.

What is the average height of women in North Korea?

Women in North Korea average 159.0 cm (5 ft 3 in), with a standard deviation of 7.5 cm. About two thirds of women are between 151.5 and 166.5 cm. That ranks 90th of 186 countries for women.

How does North Korea compare to Cuba?

Men in Cuba average 172.0 cm, 0.0 cm more than men in North Korea. Women average 158.0 cm against 159.0 cm. Cuba ranks 80th, North Korea 81st.

How does North Korea compare to the world average?

The global mean is 171.0 cm for men and 159.0 cm for women. Men in North Korea are 1.0 cm taller than that, women 0.0 cm taller.

Average height in North Korea

Men in North Korea average 172.0 cm (5 ft 8 in), women 159.0 cm (5 ft 3 in). That puts North Korea 81st of 186 countries in our data.

Key numbers

Men

172.0 cm

5 ft 8 in

Women

159.0 cm

5 ft 3 in

SD, men / women

8.0 / 7.5

cm, global SD

vs global mean

+1.0 cm

women 0.0 cm

Rank, men

81 of 186

women 90 of 186

Men minus women

13.0 cm

global 12.0 cm

North Korea among its neighbours

Ranking neighbours (three above and below) plus every Asia country in our data
#	Country	Men (cm)	Women (cm)	Region
39	Israel	176.9	161.8	Asia
46	South Korea	174.9	162.3	Asia
50	Taiwan	174.5	161.5	Asia
51	Lebanon	174.4	162.4	Asia
53	Georgia	174.3	163.0	Asia
60	Hong Kong	173.6	159.0	Asia
61	Iran	173.6	159.7	Asia
75	Singapore	172.6	160.3	Asia
76	Kuwait	172.1	159.4	Asia
78	Palestine	172.1	158.8	Asia
79	Armenia	172.0	158.1	Asia
80	Cuba	172.0	158.0	Americas
81	North Korea	172.0	159.0	Asia
82	Turkmenistan	172.0	161.7	Asia
83	Saint Lucia	171.9	162.3	Americas
84	Chile	171.8	159.4	Americas
85	China	171.8	159.7	Asia
88	Tajikistan	171.3	157.3	Asia
89	Kyrgyzstan	171.2	159.4	Asia
90	Kazakhstan	171.1	159.6	Asia
92	Jordan	171.0	158.8	Asia
93	Japan	170.8	158.3	Asia
94	United Arab Emirates	170.5	158.7	Asia
96	Qatar	170.5	159.4	Asia
97	Iraq	170.4	158.7	Asia
99	Syria	170.4	158.6	Asia
104	Azerbaijan	169.7	158.3	Asia
107	Uzbekistan	169.4	157.8	Asia
110	Oman	169.2	157.2	Asia
111	Thailand	169.2	157.9	Asia
112	Mongolia	169.1	158.2	Asia
126	Malaysia	167.9	156.3	Asia
128	Bahrain	167.7	156.7	Asia
129	Maldives	167.7	155.0	Asia
131	Saudi Arabia	167.7	155.9	Asia
140	Pakistan	166.9	153.8	Asia
157	Sri Lanka	165.7	154.6	Asia
161	Afghanistan	165.3	155.1	Asia
162	Bhutan	165.3	153.6	Asia
164	Brunei	165.0	154.0	Asia
165	India	164.9	152.6	Asia
168	Myanmar	164.7	154.4	Asia
170	Vietnam	164.4	153.6	Asia
172	Bangladesh	163.8	150.8	Asia
174	Indonesia	163.6	152.8	Asia
177	Cambodia	163.3	152.9	Asia
179	Philippines	163.2	149.6	Asia
181	Nepal	162.3	150.9	Asia
184	Laos	160.5	151.3	Asia
185	Yemen	159.9	154.0	Asia
186	Timor-Leste	159.8	151.2	Asia

What counts as tall in North Korea

Share of adults shorter than each height, estimated from mean and SD
Height	ft in	Shorter men	Shorter women
160 cm	5 ft 3 in	7%	55%
165 cm	5 ft 5 in	19%	79%
170 cm	5 ft 7 in	40%	93%
175 cm	5 ft 9 in	65%	98%
180 cm	5 ft 11 in	84%	>99%
185 cm	6 ft 1 in	95%	>99%
190 cm	6 ft 3 in	99%	>99%
195 cm	6 ft 5 in	>99%	>99%
200 cm	6 ft 7 in	>99%	>99%

Read it as: a man of 185 cm in North Korea is taller than 95% of men. Values under 1% or over 99% are shown as <1 and >99.

In plain language

The standard deviation for men in North Korea is 8.0 cm. In practice that means about two thirds of men stand between 164.0 and 180.0 cm, and roughly 95% between 156.0 and 188.0 cm. A man of 180 cm is taller than about 84% of men here; one of 188 cm is taller than about 98%.

Men in North Korea are on average 13.0 cm taller than women. Compared with the global mean, men here are 1.0 cm taller and women 0.0 cm taller. These are means for people born in 1996, measured at 18. Older generations in most countries are shorter, by several centimetres where heights rose fast.

Questions

Is 180 cm tall in North Korea?: A man of 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) is taller than about 84% of men in North Korea. That counts as tall here, though not rare. For a woman, 180 cm is taller than >99% of women in North Korea.
What is the average height of women in North Korea?: Women in North Korea average 159.0 cm (5 ft 3 in), with a standard deviation of 7.5 cm. About two thirds of women are between 151.5 and 166.5 cm. That ranks 90th of 186 countries for women.
How does North Korea compare to Cuba?: Men in Cuba average 172.0 cm, 0.0 cm more than men in North Korea. Women average 158.0 cm against 159.0 cm. Cuba ranks 80th, North Korea 81st.
How does North Korea compare to the world average?: The global mean is 171.0 cm for men and 159.0 cm for women. Men in North Korea are 1.0 cm taller than that, women 0.0 cm taller.

NCD-RisC does not publish standard deviations. SD for countries added in 2026-10 uses the global SD. North Korea is one of them, so the SD and the percentiles above use the global spread rather than one measured here.

Source: NCD Risk Factor Collaboration, eLife 2016, mean height at 18 of adults born in 1996. Percentiles on this page are our estimate from a normal distribution with the stated mean and SD.

Enter your height and see what share of men or women are shorter than you, globally or in one of the countries in the picker.

Check your height

Also by country: Average BMI by country and Life expectancy by country.

🇰🇵Average height in North Korea