<div><p></p><p><i>Background</i>: It is generally accepted that height distribution in modern populations is nearly symmetrical. However, it may deviate from symmetry when nutritional status is inadequate.</p><p><i>Aim and subjects</i>: This study provides an analysis of changes in the shape of the height distributions among Swiss conscripts (<i>n</i> = 267 829) over the past 130 years based on a highly representative, standardized and unchanged data source.</p><p><i>Results</i>: The analysed distributions from the 1870s–1890s conscription years are markedly left-skewed (−0.76 to −0.82), with short and very short men significantly over-represented. Standard deviation is 7.7 cm. In particular, the left tails of the late-19th- and early-20th-century distributions are very heavy. In the first half of the 20th century the first signs of a diminution of the heavy left tail are observable, by the 1970s the phenomenon disappears and height distribution becomes symmetrical; standard deviation is now 6.5 cm.</p><p><i>Conclusion</i>: The relatively strong left-skewness during the late 19th and early 20th centuries may have been due to the interaction of a number of causes, chiefly malnutrition, a wider range in physical development at age 19 and widespread iodine deficiency.</p></div
