Abstract
This article analyzes the evolution of inequality in mean male height in central Spain considering the generations born from 1837 to 1915, measured in the drafts from 1858 to 1936 (n = 53,503). Mean adult height reflects a crude indicator of net nutritional status, a proxy for currently known measures of stunting and wasting. The results reveal a cycle of stagnation and decline in average height at the age of 21 for those born from the 1850s to the 1870s and a subsequent positive secular trend to exceed baseline levels. The coefficient of variation shows how inequality in height followed an opposite pattern, with an increase in the mid-nineteenth century and a subsequent decline, with an overall decline. The great migratory wave towards Latin America (1880–1930) barely affected the area studied here. The available evidence on the occupations and educational level of the recruits reveals a ranking in average height related to family background and personal income, educational level and literacy, propinquity to food and ownership and/or management of land. Therefore, socioeconomic status largely predicted adult height in Spanish men during the period. Reducing absolute poverty and increasing access to education remain cornerstones to reducing malnutrition, even in the current world.
Highlights
An increasing mean height coexists with a fall, accelerated first and slower subsequently, of the CV until it reaches levels lower than those of the beginning of the series. These results suggest exploring a starting hypothesis, the possible relationship—basically inverse—between the trend in economic inequality as a determinant, at least partially, of the evolution of average adult height
As mentioned in the introduction, a large literature demonstrated the sensitivity of the distribution of height to the distribution of income
Under certain conditions, height inequality can be a predictor of income inequality
Summary
In the period on which this work is focused, the base of the Spanish army troop was made up of young men from the annual call-ups, in which all males of a certain age were mandatorily included, physically examined and measured. Declaración de Soldados y Suplentes) and the allegations they wanted to present heard After this procedure, they were declared soldiers, totally exempted or temporarily exempted but subject to examination in the year’s call-ups. As we will see, their occupations and literacy levels were recorded This recruitment process was maintained, without changes in the fundamental aspects, in the period studied here. For the sample of localities located in the Madrid region, an essential part of the total studied in this paper, see reference [27].
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