Some enjoyable reading for a giant from Montenegro 

Les Alpes Dinariques  un peuple de sujets de grande taille
Jean-Claude Pineau a,∗, Paul Delamarche b, Stipe Bozinovic c
a «Dynamique de l’évolution humaine », CNRS, UPR 2147, 44, rue de l’Amiral-Mouchez, 75014 Paris, France
b Laboratoire de physiologie et de biomécanique de l’exercice musculaire, UFR APS université Rennes-2,
av. Charles-Tillon, CS 24 414, 35044 Rennes cedex, France
c Institute of Education, Branch-Office, Split, Croatie
Reçu le 12 septembre 2004 ; accepté après révision le 18 juillet 2005
Disponible sur Internet le 1er septembre 2005
Présenté par Yves Coppens
Résumé
Cette étude porte sur l’actualisation de la stature moyenne en Europe. Contrairement aux idées reçues, il apparaît, selon notre
enquête réalisée sur 2705 garçons et 2842 filles âgés de 17 ans, que les adolescents des Alpes Dinariques sont, en moyenne,
les plus grands d’Europe. Avec une stature moyenne de 185,6 cm, ils se situent devant les Néerlandais, qui mesurent 184 cm.
C’est surtout la densité de sujets de très grande taille qui confère à la région des Alpes Dinariques sa caractéristique, avec 28%
de sujets de plus de 190 cm, alors que les Néerlandais n’en comptent que 20% et la France 1,5%. Chez les filles, bien que l’on
ne dispose pas de beaucoup d’informations, les adolescentes dinariques, avec une stature moyenne de 171 cm, se situent juste
derrière les Néerlandaises. Pour citer cet article  J.-C. Pineau et al., C. R. Biologies 328 (2005).
 2005 Publié par Elsevier SAS pour l’Académie des sciences.
Abstract
Average height of adolescents in the Dinaric Alps. This study contributes to an update of average heights among European
populations. Our investigation covering 2705 boys and 2842 girls aged 17 years, shows that, contrary to the general belief,
adolescents of the Dinaric Alps are, on average, the tallest in Europe. With an average height of 185,6 cm, they are taller than
Dutch adolescents (184 cm on average). Above all, the density of very tall subjects appears to be characteristic of the Dinaric
Alps, since 28% measure 190 cm or more in height, as opposed to only 20% in Holland and 1.5% in France. Although our
information is not complete, adolescent girls in the Dinaric Alps, with an average height of 171 cm come a close second to girls
in Holland. To cite this article: J.-C. Pineau et al., C. R. Biologies 328 (2005).
 2005 Publié par Elsevier SAS pour l’Académie des sciences.
Mots-clés  Stature ; Accroissement séculaire ; Pays européens ; Adolescents
Keywords: Height; Secular trend; European country; Adolescent
 Auteur correspondant.
Adresse e-mail  jc.pineau@wanadoo.fr (J.-C. Pineau).
1631-0691/$ – see front matter  2005 Publié par Elsevier SAS pour l’Académie des sciences.
doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2005.07.004
842 J.-C. Pineau et al. / C. R. Biologies 328 (2005) 841–846
Abridged English version
The diachronic increase in the stature of European
peoples has always been of interest to anthropologists.
Since the 1960s and until now, Scandinavians of both
sexes had been the tallest Europeans, followed, in descending
order, by the Dutch, Danes, Norwegians and
Swedes.
With the recent enlargement of the European Community,
it has become necessary to establish which
European country has the tallest adolescents on average.
In 1968, Montenegrin teenagers, with an average
height of 176.9 cm, had already been found to be the
tallest, followed by Norwegians at 173.6 cm. Since
then, there has been a significant increase in average
heights in all European countries, especially Holland,
where the average height among adolescents increased
the fastest (8 cm in 40 years), to reach 184 cm in
2000. However, given the lack of recent data on average
heights among inhabitants of the Dinaric Alps, we
carried out a study to update the information available.
The study was conducted among 17 year-olds (2705
boys and 2844 girls) in schools in various towns in
Herzegovina and central Dalmatia. Boys, unlike girls,
are still growing in height at 17 years of age. Different
longitudinal studies have shown that boys, on
average, grow by at least one centimetre between the
ages of 17 and 20. We have therefore added one centimetre
to all average heights for boys. As in other
European countries, height is influenced by the social
environment: in our study, lycée pupils were found to
be 2–3 cm taller on average than pupils in vocational
schools. Taking these variations into account as well
as observed differences between coastal and inland
communities, we found that