Estimating the Anthropometry of International Populations Using the Scaling Ratio Method

Abstract

Appropriate anthropometric data is a critical ingredient to good ergonomic design. For many populations, the available anthropometric data is severely limited; often just weight and stature is available. This study measured twenty key dimensions of the Colombian population to establish preliminary anthropometric measures in anticipation of a wider study, and evaluated the ability of the Scaling Ratio method to predict these data from anthropometric data of other populations. Results suggested that prediction errors are generally small when the reference population is similar in age, size, and ethnicity to the target population. However, the errors of some dimensions will be sufficiently large to prescribe that caution must be exercised in the use of any estimated data. The Colombian data was also compared to the U.S. civilian data which is currently used to design Colombian products (when anthropometric criteria are used at all). In terms of stature, when designing for ninety percent of the US population, only fifty-eight percent of the Colombian male population and sixty-eight percent of the Colombian female populations will be accommodated.