Tallest Man In The World Met With The Smallest, Sultan Kosen, 246.5cm, He Pingping, 73cm

The average height for each sex within a population is significantly different, with men being (on average) taller than women. Women ordinarily reach their greatest height at a younger age than men, because puberty generally occurs earlier in women than in men. Vertical growth stops when the long bones stop lengthening, which occurs with the closure of epiphyseal plates. These plates are bone growth centers that disappear ("close") under the hormonal surges brought about by the completion of puberty. Adult height for one sex in a particular ethnic group follows more or less a normal distribution.
Adult height between populations often differs significantly. For example, the average height of women from the Czech Republic is greater than that of men from Malawi. This may be caused by genetic differences, childhood lifestyle differences (nutrition, sleep patterns, physical labor), or both.
At 2.57 m (8 ft 5 in), Leonid Stadnyk, of Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine, is believed to be the world's tallest living man, although his height is disputed because of his refusal to be measured. The current proven tallest man is Sultan Kösen, of Turkey, who stands at 2.47 m (8 ft 1 in), overtaking previous world-record holder Bao Xishun, of Inner Mongolia, China, who is 2.36 m (7 ft 9 in) (He Pingping, the former shortest man in the world, was also from Inner Mongolia). The tallest man in modern history was Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918–1940), from Illinois, in the United States, who was 2.72 m (8 ft 11 in) at the time of his death. Until her death in 2008, Sandy Allen was the tallest woman in the world, at 2.32 m (7 ft 7 1⁄2 in). Yao Defen of China is claimed to be the tallest living woman in the world at 2.33 m (7 ft 7 1⁄2 in), but this is not confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records.