Several years ago, a popular Hindi film had shown the average Chinese soldier as a dwarf as compared to Dara Singh, Dev Kumar and others, all of whom played the role of Indian soldiers. That perception of the past is now totally outdated, because the average height of the Chinese people has increased significantly over the past few decades. Recent studies have shown that Chinese people have made substantial height gains, particularly the young adults, thus making China one of the fastest-growing nations on earth as far as average height is concerned. Two major reasons behind this have been identified as improved nutrition and living standards. One major study, whose findings have been widely reported in the global media recently, found that Chinese men aged 19 gained the most height (8.1 cm) between 1985 and 2019, while Chinese women gained 6.1 cm. While this increase in height has not occurred overnight, the highly respected Lancet magazine in 2020 itself had reported that China saw the largest male height increase among all countries in the past three or four decades. Another report, meanwhile, said that even in a five-year period between 2014 and 2019, Chinese men gained about half an inch, or 1.2 cm, in height. A recent report in China Daily, on the other hand, said that the average height for Chinese adults (18-44 years) is now nearly 170 cm, or about 5 feet 7 inches, for males and 158 cm, or about 5 feet 2 inches, for females. Improved nutrition has been identified as the major driver behind this height increase, accompanied by better living standards. Rising incomes have enabled Chinese to have better diets, and there has been a significant increase in the consumption of calcium-rich milk, eggs, meat, and vegetables, which in turn have helped Chinese men and women boost bone and muscle development. Rising income has also led to overall improvements in healthcare, housing, and socioeconomic conditions of the Chinese people, in the process contributing to better childhood nutrition and growth. It has also been said that China's height gains have far surpassed those in countries like India, thus highlighting differing levels of nutritional improvement and healthcare access. It is, however, not that the Chinese people alone have gained average height in a significant manner in the world. The average height has increased significantly in many countries as well. But, while the Chinese gains have been recorded in the past three or four decades, others have recorded height gains only over the past century. While better nutrition, healthcare, and living conditions have been identified as major factors, South Korea, Iran, and several European nations are some of the other major countries seeing some of the largest gains. In contrast, the average height of citizens in the US and the UK has plateaued in the past few decades. Looking closer, one finds that while Dutch men are among the tallest, followed by Belgians, Estonians, and Latvians, studies show Latvian, Dutch, Estonian, and Czech women as among the tallest. One study has revealed that while women in South Korea had registered a massive average height increase of 20.1 cm between 1985 and 2019, Iranian men have grown by 16.5 cm during the same period. Citizens of the Czech Republic and Serbia, on the other hand, have registered an average height increase of around 15.7 cm; the Japanese people have grown by 16 cm during the same period. The bad news is that the average height of Indian people is not increasing. Rather, it has been gradually declining, particularly for men. One study, published in a prestigious research journal called 'PLOS One' in 2021, on the basis of National Family Health Survey data from 1998-2015, shows a concerning trend of decreasing average height for young adult Indians (ages 15-25). It said that there have been significant drops for men (1.10 cm) and women (0.42 cm), the trend being more prominent among members of the poorer families as well as tribal communities. The journal had flagged malnutrition, poverty, and social inequality as the major reasons impacting height potential despite global trends of increasing stature. State-wise height trends in India show Northern states like Punjab and Himachal Pradesh as generally taller populations, while the average height in some Northeastern states has been generally less. Genetically of less height, this is also one reason why candidates belonging to the Northeastern states are given some concession in case of height in recruitments to the security forces. There are reports showing significant height increases in Kerala women and Himachali men, apart from a general average increase in both men and women in Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim. It is also worth noting that some declines have been recently noted in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi, thus highlighting mixed socioeconomic impacts, with better nutrition and development driving growth.