Research reveals impact of Great Irish Famine on human height

New research from the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University and Queen’s Business School in Belfast has examined the impact of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1852) on human height.

The research found that in the regions hardest‑hit by the Famine, survivors surprisingly did not display the expected stunting in height (a proxy for early-life well-being) usually associated with malnutrition and disease.

In some regions, the survivors' average adult height was comparable to - or even slightly greater than - that of individuals born before or after the Famine.

The study used the historical data of 14,500 individuals, with different exposures to Famine conditions and drawn from two prisons in Dublin and Tipperary, born before, during, and after the Famine.

The findings were recently published in Economic History Review, coinciding with the 180^th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Irish Famine, one of the defining events in Irish history.

The study revealed two effects occurring simultaneously, but to different extents:

• Scarring: Individuals born during the Famine exhibit reduced health outcomes. This effect dominated in areas with low Famine mortality, such as Dublin.
• Selection: Those who survived the Famine were, on average, the taller more robust individuals. Areas most affected by the Famine such as in Tipperary saw an increase in average societal health for survivors.

Professor Eoin McLaughlin from the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University said: “This research reshapes how we understand the long-term effects of humanitarian disasters like famines.

"By distinguishing between scarring (lasting damage to survivors' health) and selective mortality, it challenges simple assumptions that crises always leave a uniformly weakened population.”

Dr Chris Colvin from Queen’s Business School explained: "Individuals born in severely affected regions such as Tipperary exhibited no evidence of stunted growth, indicating that the Famine disproportionately eliminated the most vulnerable.

“In contrast, stunting is observed only in areas with lower excess mortality such as Dublin, where selective pressures were weaker. With the weakest in society succumbing to disease and starvation, this left only the healthiest to survive into adulthood. They grew up to be significantly taller than average.”

Dr Matthias Blum, Honorary Professor of Practice at Queen’s Business School and Economist at the German Medical Association, commented: “The work deepens public and academic understanding of how the Great Irish Famine shaped the Irish population—not just in terms of death and emigration, but in the long-term health legacy it left behind.”

Dr Colvin added: “These findings contribute to debates on the biological consequences of extreme catastrophic risks, demonstrating how selection effects can obscure long-term health deterioration. More broadly, our study provides a methodological framework for assessing selection in historical anthropometric research.”

The research team included Professor Eoin McLaughlin from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University, Dr Chris Colvin from Queen’s Business School, and Dr Matthias Blum, Honorary Professor of Practice at Queen’s Business School and Economist at the German Medical Association.