Human Stature and Climate: The Impact of Past Climate on Living Standards

Abstract

This contribution reviews the literature on anthropometric history that employs human stature as an indicator for nutritional status. The possibilities and problems of using this variable to measure the climatic impact on human history are considered. I argue that European climate in the 18th century significantly influenced nutritional status as measured with anthroprometric indices on a quinquennial or decadal basis. There was a causal chain leading from warmer or colder winters to higher or lower grain and protein production, and these factors determined real wages and finally human stature, only slightly modified in central Europe by the new production technology of potato growing.