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Originally Posted by ariel
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Average life expectancy in India between 1850 and 1900 was 25 years. In 1950 it rose to 34.
In Afghanistan in 1950 it was 28 years,( and that was already on the upswing, so in the second half of the 19th century it must have been ~ 20.
Iran in 1951: 41 years. Projected life expectancy in the second half of the 19th century ~30 years.
Horrifying numbers, aren't they?
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cold stats. let us not forget that it is an average. people did not just suddenly die at that top 'average' age. the curve was horribly skewed by the very early deaths of many children. people who survived childhood had a much better chance of reaching their fourscore years plus ten.
...and what were the figure for earlier centuries? may have been similar or even worse...see:
(looks like it wasn't much different in earlier years.)
the kamis who forged steel were not high in the caste system, so their bite of the medical system apple was and still is even less. heck, even the west did not know about germs and antisepsis until the second half of the 19c. even london was a foul cesspit of human waste and decay until the great stink of 1858 forced parliament to start building proper sewers, not completed till the mid 1860's. note the improvement in health was not a factor, as they had no idea about germs, they just couldn't stand the smell any more.
if you just consider stats, the unintended consequence of building sewers in london caused the decline of wootz
