|
"How much does my body differ from that of the average Korean?" Results of a two-year survey into Koreans' body measurements show that both genders have grown taller and broader over the preceding 25 years to more closely resemble their counterparts in the West.
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy's Agency for Technology and Standards (AST) announced the results Tuesday of its survey of the physical measurements of 21,000 men and women in 342 districts across the country.
The statistics revealed that men in their 20s averaged 173.2 centimeters in height and 69.8 kilograms in weight. This marked respective increases of 5.8cm and 8.8kg from a survey conducted in 1979.
Women in their 20s had also experienced spurts in growth over the same period to average 160cm in height and 54.1kg in weight, an increase of 4.6cm and 2.2kg.
Men in their 30s averaged 171.0cm and 71.9 kg, while women provided body measurements of 157.7cm and 56.2kg respectively. For the 40-50 age bracket, figures were slightly lower at 168.6cm and 70.6kg for men, but 156.1cm and 57.4kg for women.
The investigations showed that Koreans were slowly adapting to Western physiology over a period of time, with people's faces and heads also shrinking and consistent gains made in physical stature.
Compared to 1979, the average length of people's heads had decreased by 1cm for both men and women. In accordance with these physical changes, the face-body ratio of Koreans was drastically increasing. In 1979, the face-body ratios of men and women were 6.8 and 6.7 (meaning that, for men, their bodies were 6.8 times longer than their faces), but in this latest survey, the ratios had risen to 7.4 and 7.2 respectively.
In terms of weight, only 27.7 percent of men in their 40s were of normal weight, while 72.3 percent were classified as overweight. Meanwhile, 79.8 percent of women in their 20s were of normal weight, showing that excessive weight was not a serious problem in that age group.
(Yeo Shi-dong sdyeo@chosun.com )
|
