Height increases in the Czech Republic and Slovakia illustrate the effect of self-determination on citizens’ well-being

What does a nation’s height tell us about the well-being of its citizens? As Joan Costa Font and Lucia Kossarova write, an increase in the average height of a population is regarded as an indicator of an improvement in well-being, with this effect being linked to changes in social conditions. Based on a case study of Czechoslovakia, they argue that improvements in the capacity for self-determination in the country, linked both to the transition to a liberal democracy and the state’s separation into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, led to an improvement in citizens’ well-being, as indicated by an improvement in the average height of the population.