American women have the second largest breasts in the world, according to new rankings published this year.
The average cup size in the US is a C on average, data from the California-based World Population Review suggest, putting it in joint second place out of 108 countries.
It draws with the UK, Luxembourg and Iceland, which also all have C cup as their average breast size. Norway had the largest breast size, at an average of C to D.
Twenty-three countries — mostly in Africa and South East Asia — had the smallest breasts at cup size AA.
Researchers said countries with more obese or overweight women are more likely to have large breasts because the breast is mostly fatty tissue and glands.
That makes Norway’s rank even more of an outlier.
By the same logic, there may be a link to women in areas with smaller breasts leading more active lifestyles, which can decrease body mass and breast size, the researchers say.
Writing in the study, the team wrote: ‘Breast size is unique to each woman and is influenced by several factors including genetics, nutrition and diet, weight and body mass, fitness level and age.
‘It is noteworthy that breast size correlates quite closely with overall BMI, illustrating the fact that additional weight can often be accompanied by a larger cup size.’
Norway had the largest breast size but a BMI of 26.2, meaning women there were overweight (BMI 25 to 29.9) and above the healthy range (BMI 18.5 to 24.9).
But they still had larger breasts than women in the US, who had a BMI of 29, and the UK, who had a BMI of 27.1 — which were both higher.
Researchers suggested this difference may be down to genetics, with women in Norway genetically predisposed to have larger breasts.
This was outside the general trend of larger women having larger breasts, with researchers saying the difference may be down to genetics.
The data was compiled from multiple small studies reviewed by World Population Review.
For the comparison, all cup sizes were converted to the US system, which uses the letters from A to H to indicate the size of a cup.
Researchers also extracted data on average body mass index (BMI) from national databases in order to compare this to breast sizes.
They also found that countries with a higher BMI also tended to have a larger breast size among women.
In data for countries with the largest average breasts and BMI, the US was top — followed by the UK, Venezuela and Colombia.
The US had a BMI of 29, just below the obesity level (30 to 34.9), while the UK had a BMI of 27.1, Venezuela was 26.9 and Colombia was 26.7.
The study did not include every country in the world.
Women’s breast size has been trending upward for years, with researchers saying this is likely being driven by widening waistlines.
The dataset was compiled by investigators based in Germany who combed through dozens of surveys from more than 80 countries
The data comes after a separate study revealed the ideal breast size and shape — with size emerging as an important factor.
Researchers asked around 1,000 men and women to score pictures of more than two dozen breasts for attractiveness.
They found those that were moderately sized and had more volume in the area above the nipples — called ‘upper pole fullness’ — scored highest.
Nipples that were closer together also scored high, as did perky breasts. But size and symmetry did not appear to be crucial.
At the other end of the scale, the 23 countries with the smallest cup sizes were: India, Pakistan, Mexico, Iran, South Africa, Italy, Algeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar, Kazakhstan, Somalia, Ecuador, Cuba, Portugal, Turkmenistan, Libya, Paraguay, Moldova, Cyprus, Belize and the territory of Greenland.
