# Height

Key: `identity.person.height`

Person height in cm, inches, or feet.inches format (e.g., 180cm, 5'10", 180). Transforms to DOUBLE (centimeters). Decompose extracts value and unit.

Page: <https://meridian.online/docs/projects/finetype/types/identity/person/height>

Samples: `180 cm`, `5'10"`, `70 inches`, `6 ft`

## Background

### Origin

FineType defines this type itself, as identity.person.height in its identity label definitions.[[1]](https://github.com/meridian-online/finetype/blob/main/labels/definitions_identity.yaml) FineType's definition covers a person's height written in centimetres, in inches, or in feet and inches, such as 180cm or 5'10".[[1]](https://github.com/meridian-online/finetype/blob/main/labels/definitions_identity.yaml)

The units themselves are fixed by international agreement: since 1959 the foot has been exactly 0.3048 metres by definition.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_%28unit%29) The inch has been defined as exactly 25.4 mm since the adoption of the international yard.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch) One foot is twelve inches.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch) The prime symbol, ′, is commonly used for the foot, and it is often approximated by an apostrophe.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_%28unit%29) The inch is traditionally written with a double prime, ″, which is often approximated by a double quotation mark.[[3]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch)

### Use

North American driving licences show how one record can carry height in more than one shape. (Meridian's view) The 2020 AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard prints height on US cards in feet and inches, with the example 6’-01” for 6 foot 1 inch.[[4]](https://www.aamva.org/getmedia/99ac7057-0f4d-4461-b0a2-3a5532e1b35c/AAMVA-2020-DLID-Card-Design-Standard.pdf) The same standard prints height on Canadian cards in centimetres, with the example 181 cm.[[4]](https://www.aamva.org/getmedia/99ac7057-0f4d-4461-b0a2-3a5532e1b35c/AAMVA-2020-DLID-Card-Design-Standard.pdf) The standard's barcode example writes 6'1'' as 073 in, padded with a leading zero.[[4]](https://www.aamva.org/getmedia/99ac7057-0f4d-4461-b0a2-3a5532e1b35c/AAMVA-2020-DLID-Card-Design-Standard.pdf)

Among the British public, the foot is widely used as a measurement of height.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_%28unit%29)

### Where you'll meet it

The US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey records standing height in its 2017-2018 body measures file as the variable BMXHT, labelled Standing Height (cm).[[5]](https://wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Data/Nhanes/Public/2017/DataFiles/BMX_J.htm) That file's codebook gives an observed range for BMXHT of 78.3 to 197.7.[[5]](https://wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Data/Nhanes/Public/2017/DataFiles/BMX_J.htm)

## Sources

1. [finetype/labels/definitions\_identity.yaml](https://github.com/meridian-online/finetype/blob/main/labels/definitions_identity.yaml) — FineType
2. [Foot (unit)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_%28unit%29) — secondary source
3. [Inch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch) — secondary source
4. [2020 AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard](https://www.aamva.org/getmedia/99ac7057-0f4d-4461-b0a2-3a5532e1b35c/AAMVA-2020-DLID-Card-Design-Standard.pdf) — standard
5. [Body Measures (BMX\_J)](https://wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Data/Nhanes/Public/2017/DataFiles/BMX_J.htm) — dataset