Chinese men have no reason to feel inferior about the size of their penises, according to a Hong Kong study which showed local men measured up to others elsewhere in the world.

“Our conclusion is that Hong Kong people are no smaller than western men, where their penises are concerned,” said Chan Lung-wai, director of the Urology Centre at the Union Hospital, who headed the study.

“There has always been the myth that westerners have bigger penises and their (sexual) ability is better.”

A group of scientists in Hong Kong spent five months from October last year measuring 148 ethnic Chinese volunteers aged between 23 and 93.

The average length of their flaccid penises was 8.46 cm (3.4 inches), which compared favourably with similar studies on other men overseas.

Germans have average lengths of about 8.6 cm, Israelis 8.3 cm, Turks 7.8 cm and Filippinos 7.35 cm. Italians were the longest at 9 cm and Americans averaged 8.8 cm.

The study did not measure the penises when they were erect.

It found that a man’s height bore no relation to the length of his member, but those with higher body mass indexes, or fat content, appeared to have shorter penises.

“It seems that as someone gets older and fatter, his blood vessels change, so the penile size is not static. It may be a reflection of the condition of the person’s blood vessels,” Chan said, adding that this could spur yet another study.