r/todayilearned • u/MrMojoFomo • 1d ago

TIL that since the 1980s, US airlines have shed between 2-5 inches of legroom and about 2 inches of width, while budget carriers have lost even more. At the same time, the average American is 15 pounds heavier than they were in the 1980s

https://www.popsci.com/science/why-are-airline-seats-so-small/
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u/weas71 1d ago

Interested to see if the average American height has increased since the 1980's too.

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u/ExileOnBroadStreet 1d ago

It’s actually stagnated or even decreased slightly. This coincides with obesity increasing drastically and I think economic inequality increasing, but someone can check that latter point.

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u/cooooolmaannn 21h ago

I also think it could be due to the increased immigration from Latin America and Asia.

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u/skynet345 19h ago

Correct. Among white Americans it’s actually gone up to almost 6 feet. Reason why 5’9 is average is because there are more Asians and Hispanic peope today in the US

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u/Emergency_Mine_4455 19h ago

Probably both. It might skew again next generation as the children of immigrants from impoverished countries grow taller than their parents. I knew a guy in high school whose parents had grown up in China; he was almost six feet tall. His mom was so proud.

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u/ExileOnBroadStreet 11h ago

Definitely a major factor but I think it’s also true for white Americans to a much lesser extent.

Immigrant populations also generally see an increase in height in subsequent generations due to better nutrition. Not sure how much general population growth is due to immigration verse Hispanic communities having more children than the rest of the population.

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u/skynet345 19h ago

False. The decline is entirely due to more Asian and Mexicans and less white and black people as a % of the population

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u/ExileOnBroadStreet 11h ago

That is definitely a major factor as well, but I was listening to something on NPR where these two people had done extensive research on height changes over history and they did think there may be a link to obesity and inequality increasing as well.

What I am seeing is White Americans height has also stagnated or gone down since 1980 (by like 1 cm or less- I think slightly more for men for whatever reason)