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Life Expectancy
May. 18th, 2014 12:16 amI've done a bit of demographic research, mostly on the Mediterranean and Europe. Anyway, typical estimates of life expectancy:
Hellas, 330s B.C.E.: 25 years. (Mogens Herman Hansen, The Shotgun Method, p. 55.)
England, 1270s: 25 years. (Quoted in Ole Benedictow, The Black Death, p. 252.)
Europe, 1390s to 1540s: 20-25 years. (Benedictow, p. 251.)
Norway, 1660s: <26 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
France, 1700: 25 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
Norway, 1750s, 35 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
France, 1780s: 29 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
India, 1911: 22-24 years under colonialism. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
Of course, Europe had a particularly bad disease environment. It's quite likely that the Americas had on the whole a higher life expectancy, before European colonization, smallpox, and other European diseases. I don't know how to eveluate the sources available; some papers suggest 20 years, but that's worse than Europe, when the disease environment was better than Europe, so that seems less-than-trustworthy. I just don't see how it's racist or colonialist to think in terms of 40 years instead of 80 years.
Hellas, 330s B.C.E.: 25 years. (Mogens Herman Hansen, The Shotgun Method, p. 55.)
England, 1270s: 25 years. (Quoted in Ole Benedictow, The Black Death, p. 252.)
Europe, 1390s to 1540s: 20-25 years. (Benedictow, p. 251.)
Norway, 1660s: <26 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
France, 1700: 25 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
Norway, 1750s, 35 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
France, 1780s: 29 years. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
India, 1911: 22-24 years under colonialism. (Benedictow, p. 250.)
Of course, Europe had a particularly bad disease environment. It's quite likely that the Americas had on the whole a higher life expectancy, before European colonization, smallpox, and other European diseases. I don't know how to eveluate the sources available; some papers suggest 20 years, but that's worse than Europe, when the disease environment was better than Europe, so that seems less-than-trustworthy. I just don't see how it's racist or colonialist to think in terms of 40 years instead of 80 years.
