How tall are European men, actually?
Height is the first filter most people set and the one they understand worst. Here is what each centimetre costs, measured across Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Spain.
The distribution
Men aged 25 to 45, by minimum height. Read it as: this share of them clears that bar.
| Minimum height | Share of men who clear it |
|---|---|
| 170cm | 88.1% |
| 175cm | 68.5% |
| 180cm | 41.4% |
| 185cm | 17.9% |
| 190cm | 5.3% |
| 195cm | 1.0% |
Where it turns
Nothing dramatic happens until 180cm. Below that you are excluding a minority. At 180cm you cut the field to two men in five, and every five centimetres after that roughly halves what is left.
The step from 185cm to 190cm is the one people underestimate. It removes seven in ten of the remaining men. Asking for 190cm is asking for one man in nineteen, before you have said anything about his job, his age or whether he is available.
Why height alone is not the problem
A height requirement is survivable on its own. 180cm still describes more than two fifths of the continent. The trouble starts when it is stacked with the others, because each filter cuts into the men the previous one left behind rather than into the whole population.
Set 180cm and you keep 41%. Add €50,000 and you are at 7.3%. Add single and you are at 4.3%. Three requirements, none of them outrageous, and 95.7% of the men are gone.
Run your own numbers