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The average height for 11 year olds (girls and boys)

The average height for 11 year olds (girls and boys)

If you would like to know the average height for 11 year olds in feet (both boys and girls) and learn about human height, then this is the article for you. 

As well as answering the main question—how tall is the average 11 year old—we’ll also be examining a range of specific heights to see precisely how short or tall they are for eleven year old girls and boys.

Related Guides:

What is the average height for an 11 year old boy in feet?

A chart displaying the average height for an 11 year old boy in feet and centimeters

What is the average height for an 11 year old boy in feet? According to a CDC report, which measured the heights of 172 healthy eleven year old boys, the average height of an 11 year old boy in feet is 4 feet 11 inches tall.

Some boys will naturally be taller and shorter than this average, depending on their current rate of physical development. So don’t panic if your 11 year old son isn’t quite 4ft 11in yet. At age eleven, boys still have plenty of time to grow taller.

It’s interesting to know that, at age 11, boys and girls are virtually the exact same height. And, if anything, girls are slightly taller on average (by around half an inch, to be precise).

Although height for both boys and girls is largely determined by genetic factors, [1] some of a child’s height is determined by environmental factors like activity level, diet quality, and sleep.

What is the average height for an 11 year old girl in feet?

A chart showing the average height for an 11 year old female in feet and centimeters

What is the average height for an 11 year old girl in feet? According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average height of an 11 year old girl in feet is 4 feet 11 inches tall.

Between the ages of 10 and 11, the average girl will have increased in stature by around 3 inches, indicating that she is experiencing rapid physical development.

After age eleven, most girls will continue to grow in height until roughly age 14, by which time they will likely have achieved their full adult height, which is typically around 5ft 4in.

Related: How to grow taller at 11 years old

What is considered tall for an 11 year old?

A chart showing the average height of an 11 year old boy in feet and centimeters

What is considered tall for an 11 year old? For an 11-year-old boy, a height of around 5 feet 1 inch tall would mean that, based on US data, he’d be taller than around 75% of his peers.

For a girl of the same age to be taller than 75% of her peers, she’d need to be over 5 feet 1 inch tall. 

At this age, it’s quite common for 11-year-old girls to be taller than 11-year-old boys, if not by all that much.

Of course, once boys start to grow tall, which typically happens later than for girls, they will usually exceed their female peers in height. [2]

What is considered short for an 11 year old?

A chart showing the average height for an 11 year old girl in feet and centimeters

What is considered short for an 11 year old? For both 11 year old boys and girls, a height of 4 feet 7 inches would be considered short. This is because, at 4 foot 7, a child would be shorter than around 90% of their classmates.

If an eleven-year-old child is one of the younger children in their year group, then there’s a good chance that they’ll naturally be a bit shorter than the other children.

This height difference is likely nothing to worry about, seeing as, at this age, children of both genders are growing rapidly. So if they’re one of the youngest in their year, some children may not display their full height potential until they’re stopped growing, which, for boys, is around age 16 or 17.

How tall should an 11 year old be?

A doctor working out how tall an 11 year old should be

How tall should an 11 year old be? Statistically, an 11 year old boy and an 11 year old girl should be around 4 feet 11 inches tall.

However, both genetic factors and environmental factors can affect this.

Some eleven year olds, for example, might be smaller than 4 foot 11 if their parents are shorter than average.

Additionally, if they’ve only just turned 11, then they might not yet have grown beyond their 10-year-old height.

With that said, we’re now going to take a look at some common and less common heights for 11-year-old kids to see how tall or short they really are.

Is 4’5 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’5 short for an 11 year old? Yes, a height of 4’5 is extremely short for an 11 year old boy or girl because such a height would only put them in the 5th percentile. This means, statistically speaking, that they’d only be taller than, at most, 5% of their peers.

Is 4’6 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’6 short for an 11 year old? Yes, again, 4’6 is really short for an 11 year old girl or boy because such a height would mean that they’re around 5 inches smaller than the average 11 year old height.

Is 4’7 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’7 short for an 11 year old? Yes, absolutely. Although not quite as short as the previous two heights, 4 feet 7 inches is still way below the 11 year old average height of 4’11.

Statistically, based on the available research, a height of 4’7 for an eleven year old boy or girl would mean that they’d be shorter than around 90% of children their age.

Is 4’8 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’8 short for an 11 year old? Yes, since 4’8 is a full 3 inches below both the average height for an 11 year old male and the average height for an 11 year old female, the vast majority of people would consider 4’8 to be a short height for eleven year olds.

Is 4’9 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’9 short for an 11 year old? Although 4’9 isn’t extremely short like some of the previously mentioned heights, it’s still a solid 2 inches smaller than average for an 11-year-old and is, as such, definitely on the short side.

As an example of this, an 11 year old girl who’s 4’9 would likely be shorter than around 75% of females her age. It’s a similar story for 11 year old males.

Is 4’10 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’10 short for an 11 year old? Even though 4’10 is technically an inch smaller than average for an eleven year old, such a height isn’t exactly short either.

Indeed, 4’10 is a perfectly normal height for an 11-year old boy or an 11-year-old girl, so you definitely shouldn’t worry if your child is slightly smaller than average.

Is 4’11 short for an 11 year old?

Is 4’11 short for an 11 year old? No, 4’11 isn’t short for an 11 year old because it is, in fact, the average height for 11 year olds—for both girls and boys. 

Is 5 feet tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5 feet tall for an 11 year old? Yes, the majority of US 11 year olds are, statistically speaking, less than 5ft tall. So an eleven year old who measured 5 feet tall is definitely a bit taller than average.

Is 5’1 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’1 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, 5’1 is definitely tall for an 11 year old because, based on the research, an 11 year old who’s 5’1 is a year ahead of the majority of their peers in terms of height development, which is to say they’re as tall as a 12-year-old.

Is 5’2 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’2 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, absolutely. A stature of 5’2 is a solid 3 inches above the average 11 year old boy height (the same is true for girls).

As an example, an 11 year old boy who is 5’2 would be in the 85th height percentile, meaning that he’d be taller than approximately 85% of boys his age.

Is 5’3 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’3 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, without a doubt. Although such a height may not seem particularly tall to an adult, 5’3 is a sizable 4 inches above the average 11 year old girl height (it’s the same story for boys as well).

Is 5’4 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’4 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, considering that 5’4 is a common height for a fully grown adult woman, such a height is definitely tall for an 11 year old girl or boy.

Is 5’5 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’5 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, 5’5 is exceptionally tall for an 11 year old. At this height, an eleven year old would be beyond the 95th percentile, meaning that they’d tower above more than 95% of children their age (and children who are even older!).

Is 5’6 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’6 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, definitely. A height of 5’6, although normal in adult realms, is a massive 7 inches taller than the average height for an 11 year old boy and an 11 year old girl.

Is 5’7 tall for an 11 year old?

Is 5’7 tall for an 11 year old? Yes, 5’7 is incredibly tall. A girl or boy who is already 5’7 at eleven years old almost certainly has the genetics to grow very tall. At this height, an 11 year old would be taller than just about all of their female teachers and likely some of their male teachers as well.

Who is the tallest 11 year old in the world?

Who is the tallest 11 year old in the world? Although reports don’t appear to have been officially confirmed at the time, the world’s tallest 11 year old could well be Xiaoyu (nickname), who stood an incredible 6 feet 9 inches at eleven years old. Although older now, this Chinese boy could have been the tallest 11 year old at the time. [3]

Conclusion: Who should know the average height for 11 year olds?

An eleven year old boy seeing if he's as tall as the average 11 year old male

If you want to monitor the growth of your 11 year old son or daughter, then it can be useful to know the average height for 11 year olds in the US.

Using the above charts, you can also see how much the average boy and girl will, on average, grow at various ages.

References

  1. Visscher, P. M., Medland, S. E., Ferreira, M. A., Morley, K. I., Zhu, G., Cornes, B. K., Montgomery, G. W., & Martin, N. G. (2006). Assumption-free estimation of heritability from genome-wide identity-by-descent sharing between full siblings. PLoS genetics2(3), e41. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.0020041
  2. Chalabi, M. (2017, September 20). Why is puberty starting younger? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/04/why-is-puberty-starting-younger-precocious
  3. An 11-year-old Chinese kid could soon be the world’s tallest teenager. (2018, June 27). Retrieved from https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d674d3541444e78457a6333566d54/