The evolution of adult height across Spanish regions, 1950-1980: a new source of data

Abstract

We present new evidence concerning the evolution of adult height across Spanish regions for the 1950-1980 male and female birth cohorts, using the augmented sample of the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) for Spain. This augmented sample, available only for the year 2000, contains self-reported height data representative at the Autonomous Community level. The average heights of these two sets of birth cohorts, female and male, are found to increase by 1.7 and 1.6cm/decade, respectively. Making available a new dataset of quinquennial mean heights will allow researchers to study the determinants of population heights by means of a within-country analysis.