The Hanoi Department of Health set a goal to raise the average heights of 17-year-old males and females to 170.5 centimeters and 159 centimeters, respectively, by 2030.

As of 2021, the average heights of 17-year-olds of the two sexes in the Vietnamese capital city were 168.8 centimeters and 157.4 centimeters, respectively.

These figures marked the corresponding increases of 2.4 centimeters and 0.2 centimeters from 2016.

Commenting on the topic, Nguyen Thi Lam, former deputy director of the National Institute of Nutrition under the Ministry of Health, asserted the feasibility of the Hanoi Department of Health’s height target, citing the Vietnamese male’s height improvement of 5.8 centimeters from 2000 to 2020.

Lam attributed the improvement to a more adequate nutritional regimen and parents’ higher attention to children’s diet and physical exercise.

“Only a small number of children in the suburbs are still malnourished,” Lam said. 

“In the inner city, most children are well taken care of. 

“Height growth is entirely possible in the current context. 

“However, it is necessary to implement many synchronous solutions, starting with taking care of nutrition and physical exercise in school and at home.”

A report by the Ministry of Health in August showed that the average height of young Vietnamese women increased from 152.3 centimeters in 2000 to 155.6 centimeters in 2020 while that of young Vietnamese men went up from 162.3 centimeters to 168.1 centimeters during the 20-year period.

Vietnam currently ranks fourth in Southeast Asia in average height, after Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia, according to the ministry.

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