Trends in physical stature across socioeconomic groups of Chilean boys, 1880-1997.

•Chilean boys aged 5–18 born between 1880 and 1997 grew 1.1cm per decade, on average.•A large socioeconomic stature difference of 9–11cm is observed up to the late 1940s.•Since then, the socioeconomic stature gap decreased rapidly to about 5cm in 1990s.•Height convergence by SES was driven by increases in height of lower & middle SES boys.•We argue this was associated with a steady expansion of social policies since the 1940s.