A Tropical Success Story: A Century of Improvements in the Biological Standard of Living, Colombia 1910-2002
La serie Borradores de Economía es una publicación de la Subgerencia de Estudios Económicos del Banco de la República. Los trabajos son de carácter provisional, las opiniones y posibles errores son responsabilidad exclusiva del autor y sus contenidos no comprometen al Banco de la República ni a su Junta Directiva.
In this paper the evolution in the average height of Colombians from 1910 to 1984 is analyzed. The anthropometric evidence reveals a sustained increase in the standard of biological welfare during this period. A database with more than 8.000.000 observations from the national citizenship card is used. Observations are available for both men and women and for all regions of the country. There was a significant increase in the height of Colombians between 1910 and 1984. Average height of women increased 9 inches, while for men the increase was of 8 inches. The dispersion in the height of Colombians showed a large reduction during the period studied. This is important since it implies a convergence in the biological standard of living. Finally, the inter-departmental differences in average height are analyzed and it was found that around 43% of the observed variations are explained by departmental per-capita GDP and the racial composition of the population.
