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 1.6 cm/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.