Well-endowed Britons beat French

British men typically have bigger penises than their French counterparts but are less well endowed than Germans, a new study has suggested.

The average penis size for a British man is apparently 5.5in when erect - larger than the French at 5.3in, Australians (5.2in), Americans (5.1in) and Irish (5in).

Men from Africa's Republic of Congo are best equipped with an average penis length of 7.1in, while the average manhood in North and South Korea measures in at a mere 3.8in, the research claims.

The research published in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences claims Ecuadorian men are among those with the largest penises, with an average length of 7in. They are followed by Ghanaians at 6.8in and Colombians at 6.7in.

British men rank 78th out of 113 nationalities in the table of average penis lengths, according to the study.

In Europe, Icelanders are the best endowed at 6.5in and the Irish are the second smallest at 5.03in - behind Romanians at 5.01in. British men come in just under the Germans, who are in line with the European average of 5.7in.

Africans have the biggest penises with an average of 6.3in, while north-east Asians the smallest at 4.2in, the study claims.

Research author Mr Lynn said that the findings confirm previous theories of "race differences in penis length". He concludes: "For most of these populations, penis lengths are predictable and confirmed."

But critics argue that Mr Lynn's research is flawed because he has gathered data on penis length from websites.

Jelte Wicherts, professor of methodology at Tilburg University, Holland, told the Telegraph: "This is a brave paper in a controversial area but the data has no methodology."