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An Investigation into Adult Human Height Distributions Using Kernel Density Estimation

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Abstract

This study investigates how average adult human height distributions of various regions around the world have changed over time using a non-parametric approach. Performance of kernel density estimators (KDEs) were compared between various mixtures of Gaussian distributions created using different means, variances and mixing weights. The performance was evaluated for these mixtures using existing bandwidth selection methods, with various kernels and sample sizes and it was revealed for mixtures with distinct multi modes the Sheather & Jones method performed better in general among the considered. The results of this study also revealed that a better practical performance than Sheather & Jones can be achieved for relatively smaller samples from gaussian mixtures in general through a modified plug-in bandwidth. By applying the findings of the simulation analysis on data related to average adult human heights in different regions in the world for different cohorts, interesting observations on average adult human height distributions were made.

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Notes

  1. All citizens of Canada are classified as “Canadians” as defined by Canada’s nationality laws. However, “Canadian” as an ethnic group has since 1996 been added to census questionnaires for possible ancestry. “Canadian” was included as an example on the English questionnaire and “Canadian” as an example on the French questionnaire. “The majority of respondents to this selection are from the eastern part of the country that was first settled. Respondents generally are visibly European (Anglophones and Francophones), however no-longer self identify with their ethnic ancestral origins. This response is attributed to a multitude or generational distance from ancestral lineage (Jedwab, 2008; Beaujot and Kerr, 2007).

  2. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most who nominate “Australian” as their ancestry are part of the Anglo-Celtic group (Jupp, 1995).

  3. Belarusians are an East Slavic ethnic group who are native to modern-day Belarus and the immediate region. There are over 9.5 million people who proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide, with the majority residing either in Belarus or the adjacent countries where they are an autochthonous minority. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarusians)

  4. The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia (Sancaktar, 2012).

  5. The Andorran people are a Romance ethnic group of originally Catalan descent (Minahan, 2000).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Editor-in-Chief of Sankhya, Editor of B Series, Associate Editor, the two anonymous reviewers for the valuable comments and suggestions which led to a substantial improvement of the original manuscript.

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  1. Department of Statistics Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka

    D. Y. Jayasinghe & C. L. Jayasinghe

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  1. D. Y. Jayasinghe
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  2. C. L. Jayasinghe
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Correspondence to D. Y. Jayasinghe.

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Jayasinghe, D.Y., Jayasinghe, C.L. An Investigation into Adult Human Height Distributions Using Kernel Density Estimation. Sankhya B 84, 79–105 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13571-020-00243-w

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