Tall people lead happier lives than their more vertically challenged peers, according to a new study which found that most miserable men are almost an inch shorter than average.

Researchers found that shorter people tended to be more dissatisfied with their lot in life.

The study interviewed more than 450,000 adults about how they viewed their life.

The volunteers were asked to place themselves somewhere on a “life ladder” and asked about their emotions.

According to the findings, people who were taller were also more likely to be positive about their life and were more likely to judge themselves as happy.

They were also less likely to feel a range of negative emotions, including sadness and physical pain, although they were more likely to experience stress and anger, and if they were women, to worry.

Men who reported that their lives were the "worst possible" were in general more than eight tenths of an inch, or two centimetres, shorter than the average height.

Women who viewed themselves as "on the bottom step" on the life ladder were shorter than the average woman by half an inch, or 1.3 centimetres.

There was also a link between height and education, the findings, published in the journal Economics and Human Biology, found.

Men who did not finish secondary school were found to be half an inch, or 1.27 centimetres, shorter than average and more than an inch, or 2.54 centimetres, shorter than the average height of those who had gone on to graduate from university.

However, there was no such clear link when it came to women, with just small differences in height.

The authors of the report, from Princeton University in New Jersey, conclude that the link between education, income and height mostly explained the link with happiness and life satisfaction.

The data was taken from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index daily poll of the American population.

(Agencies)