What percentage of men have a penile girth of 14.6cm?
Executive summary
Using standard published nomograms for erect penile circumference (mean 11.66 cm, SD 1.10) and treating the distribution as approximately normal, a girth of 14.6 cm sits about 2.67 standard deviations above the mean — roughly 0.4% of men would measure at or above that size; however, this arithmetic rests on limited erect-size samples and differing measurement methods across studies, so the true population fraction is uncertain [1] [2] [3].
1. Why 14.6 cm matters statistically — the simple math
The most commonly cited pooled estimate from a systematic review (Veale et al.) gives an average erect circumference (girth) of 11.66 cm with an SD of about 1.10 cm; using those numbers, (14.6 − 11.66) / 1.10 ≈ 2.67, which corresponds to roughly the 99.6th percentile — about 0.4% of men at or above 14.6 cm assuming a normal distribution [1] [2] [3].
2. Why that calculation can be misleading — sample size and measurement differences
The erect-girth sample underlying that mean and SD is small relative to other measures (Veale et al. pooled erect circumference data from just a few hundred men) and many primary studies either measured flaccid, stretched, or mid-shaft circumference with varying protocols, so treating 11.66 ± 1.10 cm as a definitive, normally distributed population parameter overstates precision [1] [4] [5].
3. Alternative datasets and non‑normal distributions change the picture
Large datasets from other studies use different measurements or report medians rather than means; for example, a 14,597‑subject Vietnamese registry reports a mid‑shaft circumference median of 8.39 cm (a different anatomical and likely non‑erect measure) and explicitly finds distributions that are non‑parametric, warning that penile dimensions may not follow a perfect normal curve and that sample composition and methods shape results [6] [7]. Other reviews and summaries place average erect girth in the 11.5–12.2 cm range, which would slightly alter the z‑score but not the general finding that 14.6 cm is rare [8] [3].
4. Bottom line, with caveats for readers and researchers
Mathematically and using the most cited pooled erect girth parameters, about 0.3–0.5% of men would have an erect girth of 14.6 cm or more; this is a practical estimate, not an exact census, because erect measurements come from relatively small, heterogeneous samples, measurement technique varies across studies, and some datasets show non‑normal distributions so tail probabilities could be marginally different in real populations [1] [2] [6]. If precision matters — for clinical guidance, product design or epidemiology — the correct next step is more large, standardized erect‑girth measurements across diverse populations rather than extrapolating from mixed datasets [1] [9].