The purpose of the study was an analysis of the basic indices of somatic development of school children in the Olkusz area with mines of zinc, lead and cadmium, and metallurgic plants processing the ores of these metals. The studied group comprised 747 children aged 5 to 14 years attending randomly selected schools in Olkusz, Bukowna and Bolesław. The height and body mass were measured on medical scales with height scale. The obtained results were compared with those of similar measurements of children in other parts of the country with different degrees of environmental pollution with non-iron metals. In the Olkusz area the height of the children was slightly smaller than in other parts.