The size of human beings has increased over the past century thanks to better health and nutrition — but this change has not occurred equally among men and women, a new study shows.

Women around the world have increased their height and weight at half the rate of men over the last century, widening the physical gap between the sexes, new research finds. For the study, titled 'The sexy and formidable male body: men’s height and weight are condition-dependent,

The study shows that men have grown at a much faster rate than women since 1900, writes Videnskab. While the HDI increased by 0.2 points, men grew an average of 4 centimeters taller and gained 6.5 kilograms.

Stats have revealed that men around the world have gained height and weight twice as fast as women over the past century, driving an ever bigger difference between the sexes than first thought

A gender specialist at the University of Genoa, in Italy, a psychologist at the University of Missouri, in the U.S., and a behavioralist at the University of Roehampton, in the U.K, have found that men are growing taller and heavier at twice the rate of women.