Vietnam plan to make people taller

Vietnamese people are smaller, on average, than other East Asians

The Vietnamese Government has launched a new initiative to make its population taller.

The $40m programme, which is designed to promote better nutrition and healthy living, will be introduced to schools across the country.

"We are still much shorter than other Asian countries like China and especially Japan," said Dung Nghiep Chi, the man behind the scheme.

"We are now working on a programme of nutrition and physical exercise, to boost the height and weight of young Vietnamese people," he told the BBC's World Today programme.

I want to be 10cm taller. I think tall people are beautiful Vietnamese man

According to Ha My, from the BBC's Vietnamese service, many people in Vietnam want to gain that extra few inches.

She said that young people consider height a mark of beauty, and it is one of the top considerations for teenage girls looking for boyfriends and even friends.

There are also height restrictions which prevent small people from taking part in beauty contests or becoming air hostesses.

Older people associate height less with beauty and more with nutritional status - and an indication that their children are healthy and strong.

"My mother is very short, but I'm not too bad as I have been given highly nutritious food and plenty of milk," said one woman.

Another man was more direct. "I want to be 10cm taller. I think tall people are beautiful," he said.