18 year old is breastfed

As Nepal's "Little Buddha" Khagendra Thapa Magar, who at 22 inches is as tall as a Coke bottle, is hoping to make it to the Guinness
Book of World Records as the shortest man in the world outstripping the current title-holder, China's He Pingping, Nepal has reported the existence of someone who could be smaller.

Yangjima Jirel could have been a close competitor if she had not been a woman. However, neither the 18-year-old nor her family know of the world interest in Khagendra or realise that the spotlight could turn on her in an instant.

Yangjima remains cut off from the world due to the remoteness of her village, acute poverty and the physical disability induced by her reduced growth. Though she turned 18 on Oct 5 – nine days before Khagendra celebrated his 18th birthday – unlike him, she can't move on her own and has to be carried by her mother. She has the appearance of a six-month-old and is still breast-fed.

Yangjima's story came to light when her widowed mother Santamaya Jirel took her to the office of the chief district officer in Dolakha district in northern Nepal in order to obtain a citizenship certificate for her. "Yangjima could be the tiniest person in the world," the state-run Gorkhapatra daily reported Thursday. "She is still carried in her mother's arms, can't speak and can't move her hands."

With Yangjima's father Min Bahadur dying when she was only two years old, the family has been surviving on the tiny plot of land they have. The land yields crops on which the family can live for just two months a year and so, as Yangjima became an adult, as per law, her mother took her to the CDO's office to get a citizenship certificate. The family is hoping it would help them to claim the state dole for the disabled.

Yangjima has two sisters and a brother and one of the sisters or her mother has to be in constant attendance. According to the World Health Organisation, Nepal has a high rate of dwarfism due to the scarcity of food and nutrition in the villages, especially in the remote areas made inaccessible due to tall mountains.

Lack of medical care and awareness also contribute to children being born with deformities and growing up with them though some are curable. Deeply traditional and superstitious, villagers in Nepal still believe that disability is caused by a curse or sin incurred in a previous life.

Before he became a celebrity, Khagendra was also treated partly like a freak. He would be shown at fairs and public places with the audience paying to see him.