When I book sufficiently far in advance, and when I'm flying in Economy, I tend to go for exit row seats over being at the front of the cabin, as I place a higher value on personal space than being able to exit quickly.

I've started to observe a recent trend of an increasing proportion of the people I end up next to in the exit rows being extraordinarily large [either height, girth or both].

I often look on with jealousy at the non-exit row pax who have free seats next to them, and wonder if I should stop choosing the exit row as a matter of course?

Obviously there has always been an above average proportion of above average-sized people on the exit rows, but seems to have increased based on my statistically significant sample of 20 flights.

Is this a possible result of the increasingly cramped cabins forcing people from the front to the exit rows?