10 Smallest People in the World

They say about a small dog that it is "a puppy until old age." However, it is unlikely that any dog has complexes about its height. But small people can. Especially guys. They say that Tom Cruise himself worries about his height and even orders shoes with special insoles to appear taller.

But it's worth taking a look at our ranking of the world's shortest people to see where the real growth woes are and where the imaginary ones are. And know that short people often live longer than tall people. According to the BBC, a study involving 1.3 million Spanish residents found that every extra centimetre shortens life expectancy by 0.7 years.

10. Bridget Jordan - 69 cm

Bridget Jordan in the Guinness Book of Records

The former Guinness World Record holder remains the shortest woman in the United States. She suffers from congenital dwarfism, and her full diagnosis is very long - microcephalic osteodysplastic dwarfism type II.

Bridget Jordan

Despite this, Bridget leads a full life, her hobbies are dancing and cheerleading.

9. Khagendra Thapa Magar - 67 cm

Khagendra Thapa Magar

In Nepal, this man is known as "Little Buddha." Born in 1992, Khagendra Thapa Magar initially weighed 600 grams. As an adult, his weight barely exceeded 5 kg. This is due to dwarfism, a condition associated with a lack of growth hormone.

On his 18th birthday in 2010, he was awarded the title of "World's Smallest Man" by the Guinness Book of Records, a title he held until 2011. Then an even smaller candidate emerged.

Khagendra Thapa Magar died of pneumonia on January 17, 2020, at the age of 27.

8. Istvan Toth - 65 cm

Istvan Toth

There is not much information on the Internet about the Hungarian Istvan Toth, who once claimed that at 65 centimeters tall he was the shortest man in the world. For comparison: the tallest man alive today is 251 cm. Calculate for yourself how many Istvans that is.

This claim is not verified by the Guinness Book of World Records, and now we may never know how true Toth's claim is. The fact is that the man died in 2011 at the age of forty-eight.

7. Madge Bester - 65 cm

Madge Bester

In 2018, one of the shortest women in the world died. At the age of fifty-five, she was shorter than the average one-year-old girl (74 cm, according to WHO standards).

Bester suffered from the disease "crystal man" (brittle bones) and was confined to a wheelchair. However, until her last day, she did not give up and was a well-known advocate for the rights of the disabled.

6. Jyoti Amji - 62.8 cm

Jyoti Amji

This tiny Indian woman is now officially the smallest woman on Earth (of all living people).

Amja, who was born in 1993, is small in stature because of a condition called achondroplasia, which is a common cause of dwarfism.

Jyoti Amji

A young Indian woman dreams of winning an Oscar, and she is already on her way to it. In 2014, she starred in one of the seasons of American Horror Story. So she can rightfully be called the smallest actress on the planet.

5. Lucia Zarate - 61 cm

Lucia Zarate

This woman, born in Mexico in 1864, was entered into the Guinness Book of Records at the age of seventeen as the thinnest person who ever lived. She weighed only 2.1 kilograms.

She was the first person ever to be diagnosed with the rare condition microcephalic osteodysplastic dwarfism type II.

During her lifetime, Lucia managed to achieve some semblance of fame, and was something of a living curiosity in the United States. The Washington Post even dubbed Zarate "The Amazing Mexican Midget." But her short-lived success came to an end in 1890. The train Lucia and her family were traveling on became stuck in the Sierra Nevada Mountains due to snowfall, and the tiny girl died of hypothermia.

4. Paulina Musters - 61 cm

Paulina Musters

The shortest woman in human history was twice the size of a regular Barbie doll (29 cm). She was born in the Netherlands in 1876 and began her career as a "living attraction" when she was still a baby. At that time, the public simply admired her tiny proportions (height 30.5 cm, weight just over 1 kg). But as she grew older, Paulina began to amaze the public with her talents. She was known as a skilled dancer and acrobat.

As her performances improved in quality, Paulina took on a variety of unique names. She was known as "Princess Pauline" and "Lady Dot", among others.

During her career, “Princess Pauline” toured various European countries, and in 1894 she came to the United States. She was a tiny fairy on a huge stage, expressing in dance what she felt in her heart - and it was beautiful. Charming, graceful and polite, the little girl quickly became a favorite of New York. However, at the age of 19, she died of a fatal combination of pneumonia and meningitis. Thus, the world lost its smallest, but greatest miracle.

3. Junri Baluing - 59.9 cm

Junri Baluing

This young Filipino, who is among the three shortest men on the planet, stopped growing a few months after he was born in 1993.

Standing just over 59cm tall, Junri suffers from a number of health issues, including weak knees and back pain, but an official diagnosis of his condition has never been made public. The Baluing family has three other normal-sized children in addition to Junri.

2. Gul Mohammed - 57 cm

Gul Mohammed

The second shortest man in the world was from New Delhi, India. He was born in 1957 and died at the age of forty from respiratory complications after numerous health problems. All of them were related to a long period of heavy smoking. Which once again confirms the simple truth: smoking is harmful!

1. Chandra Bahadur Dangi - 54.6 cm

Chandra Bahadur Dangi is the smallest man in the world

Not only is he the world's smallest man, he is also the thinnest man. Despite his super small stature, he weighed only 12 kilograms, suffering from congenital dwarfism.

Photo by Chandra Bahadur Dangi

Before his Guinness World Record, Chandra had never left his home village in Nepal. He used his newfound status as the world's shortest man to travel the world and raise awareness for his home country. Chandra passed away in 2015.

Read also the rating the thinnest people in the world.