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Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.

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The mechanical, magnetic, and thermal properties of water-quenched (from 1150 ° C) alloys, such as ç 36 ä 10 í 3, ç 36 ä 10 ï5í 2, and ç 36 ä 5 í 2, which were strengthened by aging (at 650 ° C) and high-temperature deformation (1100-800 ° C) followed by aging, are studied. The decomposition of a supersaturated solid solution in the Invar alloys under study was shown to increase the strength properties and coercive force but to decrease the plasticity and saturation magnetization. In this case, the aging ambiguously affects thermal expansion coefficient α of the different alloys; the temperature range of invariance decreases. The plastic deformation of Invars was found to increase the ultimate strength, yield strength, and coercive force. The additional aging of deformed materials increases the strength and decreases the plastic properties; among the magnetic parameters, the saturation magnetization exhibits the most adequate correlation with the mechanical properties. The thermal properties (the α coefficient and invariance range) resulting from the complex heat treatment differ slightly from those resulting from the single aging.