Chinese men should no longer worry about shortcomings in the trouser department.

A scientific survey of men's penises has found that the size of a Chinese man's appendage is not that different from men in the West.

Chinese men have long worried they do not measure up to western men when it comes to penis size.

So a group of scientists in Hong Kong set out to uncover the truth.

They spent five months measuring 148 ethnic Chinese volunteers aged between 23 and 93.

The team found that Italian men had a lot to shout about, with average flaccid penis length of 9cm.

Americans had an average length of 8.8cm, Germans 8.6cm, Israelis 8.3cm, Turks 7.8cm and Filipinos 7.35cm.

And the Chinese came in at 8.46cm.

"There has always been the myth that westerners have bigger penises and their sexual ability is better," said Chan Lung-Wai, director of the Urology Centre at the Union Hospital.

"Our conclusion is that Hong Kong people are not smaller than western men, where their penises are concerned."

The team also found that tall men did not necessarily harbour larger members, although fat men did tend to have shorter penises.

However, it appears that penis size changes through time.

"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.