Measuring living standards from the lowest: Height of the male Hangryu deceased in colonial Korea

The living standards in Korea during the colonial period (1910-1945) have been debated for a long time. We explored this problem using the height of the Hangryu deceased, a dead person who did not have any acquaintances to claim the body. We found that the height of male Hangryu deceased, ages 25 to 30, increased by 2.2 cm during the colonial period. This result is consistent with recent quantitative studies measuring income levels or demographic information. However, questions such as when this growth in height started and what initiated this pattern need further investigation. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.