According to a new study, men appear to be evolving at twice the rate of women.
Researchers found that improving living conditions, such as better nutrition, healthcare and less stress, have resulted in men's height and weight increasing at faster rates, which is continuing generation after generation.
Women, however, have not seen the same evolution, suggesting that they are not as sensitive to environmental factors.
The study, titled "The Sexy and Awesome Male Body," examined the height and weight of more than 135,000 people in 62 countries, from data from the World Health Organization.
Experts compared the data with a measure of national levels of human well-being, to see if factors in their environments played a role.
Individuals living in countries with low human development index (HDI) scores are more likely to suffer from infectious diseases, chronic malnutrition, and a greater overall burden of disease than individuals living in countries with high HDI scores.
The researchers found that for every 0.2 increase in human development index, men grew 4 cm and gained 14 kilograms of muscle.
For the study, researchers obtained 22 years of data from the WHO on thousands of people who self-reported their height and weight.
The team said their findings were consistent with evolutionary theory, where traits such as height in men are seen as a signal of health and strength, making them more attractive to potential partners.
"Consequently, this is why men judge the ability of opponents by upper body strength, while women find tall, muscular men with a relatively large body mass particularly attractive," the researchers write. (A2 Televizion)
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