Life Expectancy in the 1350's

The 1350's was a pretty bad time in history in terms of health. 

This period, was right in the middle of the ancient period (ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome) and The Medical Renaissance. We classify this period between the years 400-1500 CE. It is also known as...yes, you guessed it. The Middle Ages a.k.a the Medieval Times!

Life expectancy in this time was very small. Unlike today's life expectancy of around 80 years, back then, the life expectancy was on average around 30 years. 

Some people lived longer, but this was unusual, and the rich mainly had a longer life expectancy.

Life expectancy was low  because of the following reasons:

- Illness
- Poor living conditions
- Malnutrition
- Childbirth (women)
- Injuries

Infant mortality was also very high.

Ask yourself this. Why would the rich have a longer life expectancy?

Use the reasons above to maybe guess why. Remember, no one had a clue to why disease spread at that time. Could it be because of the adequate living conditions, the better diet and the more hygienic living conditions also?

I think so.

Basically, in the medieval period, dealing with daily aches/pains and infection was the main aim of Medicine at that time. There was rarely concern for heart problems, cancers, hip problems and this is because these are less of a problem for young people. And remember, people died young. If there was rarely old people about, these diseases wouldn't come up, and wouldn't be a problem.