What does it mean when a doctor says a child’s height is in the 87th percentile for their age group?

When a doctor mentions that a child’s height is in the 87th percentile for their age group, it means that the child is taller than 87% of their peers. In other words, if you were to line up 100 children of the same age, this child would be taller than 87 of them. It indicates that the child is above average in height compared to others in the same age category, suggesting good growth patterns. This percentile ranking is a useful way for doctors to assess a child’s growth in relation to other children and to monitor if they’re growing at a healthy rate.