Are we really living longer than people in the past?

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It is a common idea that life expectancy now is longer than in the past. But is that true, or are the numbers from earlier generations skewed due to higher infant and child mortality rates?

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both are true.

Lol what are you analyzing life span rate average spreadsheets from the bc era?

Yellow fever. Malaria. Polio. Widespread smoking. Excessive drinking (usually alcohol was cleaner than water). Extremely grueling manual jobs that exposed you to risk of injury/death and long term disabilities. No antibiotics. No hand washing. Wars.

Living past 40 was a big deal for many centuries.

We only had the challenge of taking care of a large number of elderly just recently (social security, pensions, elder-specific healthcare). Talking just this past century.

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Walk around a cemetery and it seems like there are plenty of dead adults from 100+ years ago that lived long lives.

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I’d wager the people who could afford headstones also were more financially well off. And a better financial status usually means a longer life span.

There are a lot of dead whose families could not afford such things as a proper burial. So, there are no dates to see.

Yeah those are just the ones with enough money for a headstone

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Are we really living longer than people in the past

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No. It just seems like it because the world is so shitty that life is dragging by.

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It is a common idea that life expectancy now is longer than in the past. But is that true

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One group of people you can bet don't screw up often are insurance actuaries. They might not be 100% at predicting the future but they do a good job "predicting" the past and present.

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It is a common idea that life expectancy now is longer than in the past. But is that true

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Yes, it is true.

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or are the numbers from earlier generations skewed due to higher infant and child mortality rates?

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This does skew life expectancy figures, on purpose.

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Walk around a cemetery and it seems like there are plenty of dead adults from 100+ years ago that lived long lives. Maybe if you made it to adulthood back then you were no different than people today with regards to life expectancy?

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Modern medicine makes a difference.

I think you are confusing life expectancy with human life span. The max length of a human life hasn't changed much in the last few thousands of years. Given good genes and good luck, humans in the past could live past 100 just as they do today.

Life expectancy is a probability, and it changes as you get older and as your risk factors change. Modern medicine mostly just helps more people get closer to the max human life span, which increases the life expectancy calculation.

Yes, but recently they have fallen from 20th century levels due to widespread drug addiction sadly.