Do we really live longer than our ancestors?
BBCDo we really live longer than our ancestors? The life span of humans – opposed to life expectancy, which is a statistical construct – hasn’t really changed much at all – Walter Scheidel “There is a basic distinction between life expectancy and life span,” says Stanford University historian Walter Scheidel, a leading scholar of ancient Roman demography. “The life span of humans – opposed to life expectancy, which is a statistical construct – hasn’t really changed much at all, as far as I can tell.” Life expectancy is an average. “If someone actually lived to be 111, that person might not have known.” BBC/Getty The Roman empress Livia, wife of Augustus, lived until she was 86 or 87 years old As a result, much of what we think we know about ancient Rome’s statistical life expectancy comes from life expectancies in comparable societies. But if a man got to the age of 21 and didn’t die by accident, violence or poison, he could be expected to live almost as long as men today: from 1200 to 1745, 21-year-olds would reach an average age of anywhere between 62 and 70 years – except for the 14th Century, when the bubonic plague cut life expectancy to a paltry 45.
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