Chandra Bahadur Dangi Biography

Chandra Bahadur Dangi, a Nepali with a maximum height of 1ft 9.5 inches or 54.6cm, was the shortest human in the world as well as the shortest individual in the recorded history of mankind. Both his height and weight were normal at the time of his birth but his mother observed that children born to her neighbors were growing at a much faster pace than her son. Chandra’s unusually short stature could be attributed to a medical condition known as ‘primordial dwarfism’ which is a type of dwarfism typically characterized by stunted growth, restricting the body to a small size from birth to death. Before Dangi’s height was officially measured and recorded by the ‘Guinness World Records’, Gul Mohammad of New Delhi, India, held the record for being the world’s shortest person. Out of the seven siblings of Chandra Dangi, three brothers fell in the category of ‘midgets’ or individuals with short statures as they were less than 4 feet tall (approx. 1.22m). Dangi, who had never stepped out of the village where he was born, travelled for the first time, all the way to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal to get his height reviewed and appraised. Only after Chandra’s height was assessed and reconfirmed thrice on the same day by officials of Guinness World Records that his entry into the esteemed record books was assured.