Story: Body shape and dieting

Children's height and weight: Kiwi kids, 1913-1969 (1st of 2)

Children's height and weight: Kiwi kids, 1913-1969

These graphs show the changes in average height and weight of New Zealand 10-year-olds between 1913 and 1969. Separate data for Māori children was not available until 1934. There was a significant increase in the height of both boys and girls, especially after the lean depression years of the early 1930s. Girls tended to be slightly shorter and lighter than boys in the 1930s, but the balance changed around the Second World War. Māori girls were both taller and heavier than Māori boys from the time the data was first collected.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1970 and 1975

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Caroline Daley, 'Body shape and dieting - Average heights and weights', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/graph/41388/childrens-height-and-weight-kiwi-kids-1913-1969 (accessed 19 April 2024)

Story by Caroline Daley, published 5 Sep 2013