He may look younger, but Dor Bahadur Khapangi is actually 17 years old. At a height of 73.43 cm (2 ft 4.9 in), he is the world’s shortest male teenager living.
He lives in the Sindhuli district of Nepal with his parents and siblings, who are all of average height.
According to his older brother, Nara Bahadur, Dor Bahadur was born on November 14, 2004, and “seemed to be like any other child.”
However, after his seventh birthday, Dor Bahadur stopped growing.
“At the age of 12 or 13, we knew that he would not grow,” Nara Bahadur says.
To find out the cause of Dor Bahadur’s small size, his family decided to pay for medical tests and treatments.
The tests still haven’t revealed why he stopped growing, but according to Nara Bahadur, nothing seems out of the ordinary in his health.
As you can imagine, being the world’s shortest teenager can be challenging.
Dor Bahadur can’t lift heavy objects, and he can’t walk for long. His mother carries him to school every morning, and he is helped home by a niece in the afternoon.
His family also dresses him and helps him eat his meals. After school, Dor Bahadur takes a nap and eats dinner.
Dor Bahadur doesn’t need his family’s help for everything, though.
He loves spending time outdoors and is able to do small tasks such as feeding the chickens.
Dor Bahadur Khapangi also likes to play with a ball that his family gave him. Whether he plays alone or with the village children, Dor Bahadur always has lots of fun.
Normally, the children he plays with are around seven or eight years old.
Dor Bahadur Khapangi also has some older friends from the village, but they moved away to work or study.
At the moment, Dor Bahadur hasn’t had the chance to leave the village and work on his future.
However, his family hopes that after achieving this Guinness World Records title, Dor Bahadur can continue his education and travel to new places.
