Average Height in Sudan (Men & Women)

Sudan's average height

Sudanese men born in 1996 average 166.6 cm (5′5½″) and Sudanese women 156.0 cm (5′1½″), according to the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC) estimates used throughout this site. Sudan ranks 163rd of 200 countries for men and 158th for women.

Sudan is also a case where two good sources disagree noticeably. A national measurement survey carried out in 2016 found adults several centimeters taller than the NCD-RisC estimates. This guide sets out both, explains how each was produced, looks at what a century of estimates shows, and compares Sudan with its neighbors. Where the evidence is uncertain, it says so.

How the NCD-RisC estimates work

The NCD-RisC study, published in eLife in 2016, gathered 1,472 population-based data sources with measured height for more than 18.6 million adults. For each of 200 countries and territories, a statistical model estimated the average height at age 18 for people born every year from 1896 to 1996. Only measured heights were used.

Each figure describes a birth cohort. The headline 166.6 cm is the estimate for men born in 1996. Where national data are scarce, the estimates lean more heavily on the statistical model and carry more uncertainty. NCD-RisC notes that data existed for 179 of the 200 countries, and only 72 countries had data for people born in 1920 or earlier.

A century of estimates

In the NCD-RisC series, Sudanese height rose steadily for the first 60 years. Men born in 1956 were 6.7 cm taller than men born in 1896, and women 6.0 cm taller. Then the trend turned. Men reached a peak of 168.7 cm for the 1976 cohort and fell to 166.6 cm for the 1996 cohort, a drop of 2.1 cm. Women peaked earlier, at 157.8 cm for the 1956 cohort, and declined to 156.0 cm.

The result is that Sudanese men born in 1996 are, in this series, estimated to be only 5.1 cm taller than men born a century earlier, a much smaller gain than in most of the world.

A pattern across much of Africa

The decline isn't unique to Sudan. The NCD-RisC paper found that adult height "decreased or at best remained the same in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa," with some countries losing as much as 5 cm from their peak for cohorts born after the early 1960s. Our World in Data notes that average heights in sub-Saharan Africa have fallen since 1970 even though many health and nutrition indicators improved. The paper also observed that men's height declined or stagnated in some North African and Middle Eastern countries, such as Egypt and Yemen, while women's did not.

The 2016 STEPS survey

Sudan's most detailed source on adult height is the Sudan STEPwise Survey for Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors, conducted from February to December 2016. The report describes it as the first nationally representative survey to collect comprehensive information on risk factors for noncommunicable diseases and oral health among Sudanese adults aged 18 to 69. It was run jointly by the Federal Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics.

Design and coverage

The survey used a four-stage stratified cluster design, with a total sample of 8,154 households and individuals drawn from 302 clusters. The response rate was 95% for the interview and physical measurements, and 88% for blood tests. Results were weighted by sex and age.

It covered 11 of Sudan's 18 states, chosen to represent the country's six geographic regions:

States were picked at random within each region, with probability proportional to population, and the report states that no geographical areas or populations were excluded from the sampling frame. Within states, clusters were drawn from the smallest administrative units, the Popular Administrative Units, in both urban and rural areas. Units that might be unsafe were kept in the frame, because security conditions kept changing, with a plan to replace any that proved inaccessible; in the event, no replacement was needed. Households were then picked systematically, and an eligible adult was selected from the household listing.

That leaves seven states outside the sample: Northern, Red Sea, Blue Nile, South Kordofan, and North, South and East Darfur. Citing the Annual Health Statistical Report 2016, the survey report puts Sudan's population at about 39.6 million, so the sample design, not complete coverage, is what makes the results nationally representative.

Participants were measured barefoot and in light clothing, with height recorded electronically to the nearest 0.1 cm. Pregnant women were excluded from the height results.

What it found

Overall, men measured 171.2 cm and women 160.3 cm. The height gap between the sexes, 10.9 cm, is close to the 10.6 cm gap in the NCD-RisC estimates, but both averages are well above them.

Two sources, a 4 to 5 cm gap

The difference between the sources is large. STEPS adults aged 18 to 29 in 2016 were born between about 1987 and 1998, the same generation as the NCD-RisC 1996 cohort. Yet STEPS men in that age group measured 171.4 cm against the NCD-RisC estimate of 166.6 cm, a gap of 4.8 cm, and STEPS women 160.4 cm against 156.0 cm, a gap of 4.4 cm.

Several things are worth knowing when weighing them:

• Timing. NCD-RisC was published in 2016, while STEPS fieldwork ran from February to December 2016. The STEPS data could not have been included in the NCD-RisC estimates.
• Coverage. STEPS covered 11 of 18 states. It was designed to represent the country's regions, but states left out of the sample may differ.
• The age pattern. STEPS found almost no difference in height between adults aged 18 to 29 and those aged 30 to 44, for men or women. NCD-RisC, by contrast, estimates that the 1996 cohort is about 2 cm shorter than the 1976 cohort. STEPS doesn't show the decline the model predicts, at least not for adults born after the mid-1950s.
• Model reliance. Where few national data exist, NCD-RisC estimates depend more on the statistical model, which is fitted to data from many countries, including those in sub-Saharan Africa where heights declined.

Where the disagreement lies

Comparing age groups shows where the two sources part ways. STEPS men aged 45 to 59 in 2016 were born roughly between 1957 and 1971. They measured 170.7 cm, about 2 to 2.5 cm above the NCD-RisC estimates for the 1956 and 1976 cohorts (168.2 cm and 168.7 cm). For the youngest group, aged 18 to 29, the gap widens to 4.8 cm. Women follow a similar pattern: STEPS women aged 45 to 59 measured 160.0 cm, about 2.2 to 2.6 cm above the nearby NCD-RisC cohorts, while the gap for the youngest women is 4.4 cm.

In other words, the sources differ somewhat about the level of Sudanese height for every generation, and differ more about its direction for the most recent ones. NCD-RisC has young adults shorter than their parents; STEPS has them about the same height.

STEPS also shows older adults measuring shorter. Men aged 60 to 69 averaged 168.7 cm, 2.8 cm below men aged 30 to 44, and women aged 60 to 69 averaged 157.7 cm, 3.0 cm below the 30 to 44 group. A single survey can't separate how much of that reflects people born earlier and how much reflects the height people lose as they age.

The fairest summary is that the true average height of young Sudanese adults is uncertain. This site keeps NCD-RisC as its headline, because it uses the same method for every country, but the 2016 measurements suggest Sudanese adults may be taller than the model estimates, and that the recent decline may be smaller or absent.

Weight, body mass and the urban-rural divide

The same survey measured weight. Men averaged 65.4 kg and women 61.6 kg, with average body mass index of 22.3 for men and 23.9 for women.

A separate STEPS fact sheet broke the physical measurements down by area of residence and found a wide gap between towns and countryside:

Urban women stand out: 52.6% were overweight or obese, and 25.0% obese, against 24.9% and 8.6% of rural women. The fact sheet does not report height by area, so it's not possible to say from these sources whether urban Sudanese are also taller.

Childhood stunting

Childhood growth helps explain why adult height can stall. World Bank figures for Sudan put stunting among children under 5, meaning low height for their age, at 38.3% in 2006, 34.1% in 2010 and 38.2% in 2014. More than a third of young children were affected throughout that period, with no clear improvement.

Our World in Data explains that most stunting occurs in the first two years of life, driven by poor nutrition and repeated illness, and that it reduces adult height. Catch-up growth is possible if conditions improve, but persistent high stunting means many children carry a height deficit into adulthood.

Sudan and its neighbors

In the NCD-RisC estimates, Sudan sits close to Egypt and Ethiopia, within half a centimeter for men. Chad, to the west, is 3.8 cm taller for men, and Libya 6.9 cm taller. If the STEPS figures are closer to the truth, Sudanese men would instead be roughly level with Chad and taller than Egypt and Ethiopia.

South Sudan doesn't have a separate entry in this site's country data.

Practical context

An average Sudanese man in the NCD-RisC estimates is about 5′5½″, and an average woman about 5′1½″, close to the 5′1″ page. Using the STEPS measurements instead, an average Sudanese man would be about 5′7½″ and a woman about 5′3″.

Sudanese men born in 1996 and Sudanese women of the same cohort are the reference groups behind the figures on this page; the height percentile calculator shows where any individual height falls against them. The average height hub lists every one of the 200 countries in the dataset and explains the method.