Sultan Kösen (pronounced [suɫtɑn køsen]; born 10 December 1982 in Mardin, Turkey) holds the Guinness World Record for tallest living male at 2.51 m (8 ft 3 in).

His growth has resulted from a tumour affecting his pituitary gland. His stature is such that he must use crutches in order to walk.

Kösen lives with his parents, three brothers and sister, who are all of normal height. He was unable to complete his schooling because of his height and works part-time as a farmer. Despite his height he claims to enjoy a normal lifestyle and enjoys playing computer games with his friends. He describes the advantages of being tall as seeing a great distance, being able to help his family with domestic jobs such as changing light bulbs and hanging curtains. He lists disadvantages as not being able to find clothes (inside leg measuring 44.5 inches (113 cm) and sleeve length measuring 38 inches (97 cm)) or shoes (size 28)^{[citation needed]} that fit or finding it extremely hard to fit into an average-sized car.

Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940) was the tallest person in history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. Wadlow is sometimes known as the Alton Giant or Giant of Illinois because he was born and grew up in Alton, Illinois.

Wadlow reached 8 ft 11.1 in (2.720 m) in height and weighed 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood was due to hypertrophy of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone. He showed no indication of an end to his growth even at the time of his death.

Wadlow was born to Addie Johnson and Harold Wadlow in Alton, Illinois on February 22, 1918, and was the oldest of five children. During elementary school, they had to make a specialized desk for him, due to his size. Wadlow was also the world's tallest Boy Scout. In 1936, after graduating from Alton High School, he enrolled in Shurtleff College with the intention of studying law. By the time he had graduated from college, he was 8 ft 3in.

Chandra Bahadur Dangi (born on November 30, 1939) (Nepali: चन्द्रबहादुर डाँगी Listen (help·info)) is the shortest man in the world, measuring 0.546 m (1 ft 9 in). Dangi is a primordial dwarf. He broke the record of Gul Mohammed (1957-1997), the shortest adult human whose height was 22.5 inches. Chandra came to news highlights of local media when a wood contractor saw him in his village. All of his family members are of usual size.

He was awarded the title of Shortest adult human ever recorded after measuring his height three times in 24 hours. The chief editor of Guinness Book of World Records said that Chandra is the only person in Guinness' 57 years history to record the title of the shortest man at the age of 72.

Since Dangi is 72 years old he has no wish to get married anymore. He lives with his five brothers in a remote village of Nepal which is some 400 km away from the country's capital. He wishes to travel all parts of his country and the world. He stated that with him being the shortest man of the world and belonging to Nepal, he wants to popularize his village and his country through the medium of this title. Mr. Dangi as a first international tour visited Sydney, Australia on May 13, 2012 along with nephew Dolakh Dangi and Sid Lama for a week. The tour was organized by the hosts Fitzy and Wippa of Nova FM, Sydney.