The average height of European men grew by surprising 11 centimeters from the early 1870s to 1980, reflecting significant improvements in health across the region, according to new research published on Monday.

Contrary to expectations, the study also found that average height accelerated in the period spanning the two World Wars and the Great Depression, when poverty, food rationing and hardship of war might have been expected to limit people's growth.

The swift advance may have been due to people deciding to have fewer children in this period, the researchers say, and smaller family size has previously been found to be linked to increasing average height.