SHANGHAI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Men in east China are generally getting fatter than 20 years ago with those of the 40-50 age group having the longest waistline, an indicator many link to lifeline, according to the result of a survey.

    According to the survey, conducted by China's leading sweater company Hengyuanxiang and Donghua University, the waistline of men of the 40-50 age group has reached 82.6 cm, extending by 7.9 cm compared with the national average in 1987.

    The survey, aimed at collecting data for clothing making, was carried out in five years at a cost of nearly 100 million yuan (12.5 million U.S. dollars).

    It shows the waistline of men aged between 30 and 40 extended by 5 cm and that of those between 20 and 30 years old by 0.1 cm.

    The surveyors made accurate measurement on 3,200 randomly-selected male adults from north, east, southwest and central China in the past five years. The figures drawn in east China were released Friday in Shanghai.

    The data surveyors collected in the other three regions will be made public in Beijing later.

    Compared with the national average for men aged between 18 and 60 in 1987, hip and chest girth of men of the three age groups covered by the survey also increased from 0.9 cm to 3 cm, respectively.

    The difference between chest girth and waistline is generally taken as major index of man's figure. The survey found that the difference for 37.2 percent male adults in east China stands at 22-12 cm, which shows they are either somewhat slim or normal, compared with 60.3 percent 20 years ago.

    With the chest girth-waistline difference ranging from 11-2 cm,56.3 percent of the men in east China can be categorized as slightly overweight. Also there are 6.5 percent of the men surveyed are overweight.

    Although men in east China are generally getting weight, they are not getting fat as fast as the national average, said Zhang Wenbin, an expert on kinesiology and professor with Shanghai-based Donghua University.

    Zhang, one of the major participants in the survey, said the average chest girth-waistline for men in economically-developed east China stands at 9.8 cm, compared with the national average of 9.54 cm.

    "Maybe it is because some men in east China care more about their figures and have begun to adjust their food structure and take physical exercise," said Zhang.

    Chen Zhonwei, vice president of Hengyuanxiang, said his company will create a new size of clothing for men in the "overweight" group, based on the survey. Enditem