Afshin Esmaeil Ghaderzadeh of Iran has been named the world's shortest man by the Guinness World Records as of Tuesday. Twenty-year-old Afshin measured 65.24 centimetres (2 feet, 1.6 inches), 7 centimetre shorter than the previous record holder, 36-year-old Edward "Niño" Hernandez of Colombia. This makes Afshin the fourth-shortest man ever verified by Guinness World Records.
Afshin, who speaks the Farsi dialect and is fluent in Kurdish and Persian was found in a rural area in the Iranian West Azerbaijan Province's Bukan County.
He was flown to the Dubai office where measurements were taken three times in a span of 24 hours to record his accurate height, according to the Guinness World Records.
While in Dubai, Afshin enjoyed trips to the tailor and barber before ticking an item off his bucket list: visiting the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
Afshin was only 700 g (1.5 lb) during birth and has grown now to be almost 6.5 kg (14.3 lb).
Afshin never had a normal live like other people due to his extremely short height. He was unable to attend school and therefore struggled with literacy. However, he recently learnt to write his name.
"Continuing treatment and my son's physical weakness are the main reasons why he stopped studying, otherwise he has no mental problems," said Esmaeil Ghaderzadeh, Afshin's father, according to Guinness World Records.
Afshin belongs to a very modest family that sometimes struggles to provide enough for his living expenses, medication and treatment.
Due to his short stature, he is unable to take up father's business of a construction worker. In fact he has struggled to find a job for himself in his village.
Afshin spends most of his time watching cartoons and scrolling through social media. He also has an Instagram account that he created with the help of his friend, who also helps him communicate on the platform.