Here's an interesting paper on the correlation of height with success.
Your height won't influence what you earn as much as your race or gender, but it may well be significant. In Britain and America, the tallest quarter of the population earns 10% more than the shortest quarter. A white American man averages a 1.8% higher income than his counterpart an inch shorter (1). Economics is not the only area in which taller people win: out of the US's 42 presidents, only eight have been below average height for the time. Most have been significantly taller than the average for white adult males of their eras (2). Tall men are also more likely to be married and have children (3). ...Yet another good reason for children to get good nutrition. It looks like success comes more from confidence than from height, but greater height can lead to greater confidence.Effects that appear to stem from one's adult height, though, may have a different cause entirely. Participants in one study were asked to report their heights at ages 7,11, 16, and 23. The height that affected one's adult earnings, it turned out, was not the adult height but the 16-year-old height. (The others did not correspond.) While adult height was found to correspond to earnings in other studies, it seems because of the correlation between adolescent height and adult height (2).
Here's a New Yorker article about the height gap between human populations. There's interesting information in it, but the author makes some political implications that he only admits are unfounded near the very end.
Yet again I wish I were my mother's 6 feet. Until then, there are always high heels.
hln
All correlations studies, all useless for determining the causal role of height on
"success," however that's defined.
I can only offer my own personal experience on this one, being 5'4".
It's very simple and obvious. Most of my friends are much taller. When i'm with them and encounter strangers, i am often completely ignored or "overlooked".
When entering a bar with my taller male friends, the various women looking our way will, again, not even notice the short guy. There may be debate on how height affects financial/career success but trust me on this one, there is absolutely no debate on how it affects dating and mating. Why do you think you see so many short guys with fat women? It's society's two most rejected types settling for each other by default.
Other than not hitting my head on things as often as tall people, in American society at least, it just sucks to be short if you're male.
I'm about average height, but my friends are all tall for some reason. I think it's true that height affects a woman's first impression of you, but women also tend to be less focused on physical appearance than men are. A wealthy, successful short man will be able to find a much better mate than a wealthy, successful fat woman. And even if height influences success, it's far from the sole determining factor.
Where you really see a correlation is in leadership positions. How many short Presidents or CEOs can you name? Bill Gates and Michael Dukakis are usually called short, but they’re both 5’10” which in the US is average.