It is only in the past two centuries where demographics and the development of human populations has emerged as a subject in its own right, as industrialization and improvements in medicine gave way to exponential growth of the world's population. There are very few known demographic studies conducted before the 1800s, which means that modern scholars have had to use a variety of documents from centuries gone by, along with archeological and anthropological studies, to try and gain a better understanding of the world's demographic development. Genealogical records One such method is the study of genealogical records from the past; luckily, there are many genealogies relating to European families that date back as far as medieval times. Unfortunately, however, all of these studies relate to families in the upper and elite classes; this is not entirely representative of the overall population as these families had a much higher standard of living and were less susceptible to famine or malnutrition than the average person (although elites were more likely to die during times of war). Nonetheless, there is much to be learned from this data. Impact of the Black Death In the centuries between 1200 and 1745, English male aristocrats who made it to their 21st birthday were generally expected to live to an age between 62 and 72 years old. The only century where life expectancy among this group was much lower was in the 1300s, where the Black Death caused life expectancy among adult English noblemen to drop to just 45 years. Experts assume that the pre-plague population of England was somewhere between four and seven million people in the thirteenth century, and just two million in the fourteenth century, meaning that Britain lost at least half of its population due to the plague. Although the plague only peaked in England for approximately eighteen months, between 1348 and 1350, it devastated the entire population, and further outbreaks in the following decades caused life expectancy in the decade to drop further. The bubonic plague did return to England sporadically until the mid-seventeenth century, although life expectancy among English male aristocrats rose again in the centuries following the worst outbreak, and even peaked at more than 71 years in the first half of the sixteenth century.
For most of the world, throughout most of human history, the average life expectancy from birth was around 24. This figure fluctuated greatly depending on the time or region, and was higher than 24 in most individual years, but factors such as pandemics, famines, and conflicts caused regular spikes in mortality and reduced life expectancy. Child mortality The most significant difference between historical mortality rates and modern figures is that child and infant mortality was so high in pre-industrial times; before the introduction of vaccination, water treatment, and other medical knowledge or technologies, women would have around seven children throughout their lifetime, but around half of these would not make it to adulthood. Accurate, historical figures for infant mortality are difficult to ascertain, as it was so prevalent, it took place in the home, and was rarely recorded in censuses; however, figures from this source suggest that the rate was around 300 deaths per 1,000 live births in some years, meaning that almost one in three infants did not make it to their first birthday in certain periods. For those who survived to adolescence, they could expect to live into their forties or fifties on average. Modern figures It was not until the eradication of plague and improvements in housing and infrastructure in recent centuries where life expectancy began to rise in some parts of Europe, before industrialization and medical advances led to the onset of the demographic transition across the world. Today, global life expectancy from birth is roughly three times higher than in pre-industrial times, at almost 73 years. It is higher still in more demographically and economically developed countries; life expectancy is over 82 years in the three European countries shown, and over 84 in Japan. For the least developed countries, mostly found in Sub-Saharan Africa, life expectancy from birth can be as low as 53 years.
Life expectancy in France was below thirty in the late 1700s, but over the course of the next two and a half centuries it is expected to reach 82.5 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout France's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most noticeable changes were because of smallpox and influenza epidemics in the 1700s, medical advancements (such as vaccination and pasteurization) saw life expectancy increase in the 1800s, and then both World Wars and the epidemics that followed caused brief drops in the first half of the twentieth century.
Keywords; Search terms: historical time series; historical statistics; histat / HISTAT . Abstract: In this study the constantly rising human life expectancy since the beginning of the 18th century is analysed in some regions of Germany in comparative point of view. On the basis of worldwide singular sources in terms of clan registers of villages and localities as well as flow sheets the researcher Arthur E. Imhof and his research group of the ‘Freie Universität Berlin’ analysed more than 130.000 individual biografies from the 17th till the 19th century in six regions of northern, southern and central Germany. Aim of this research project was to compile area life-tables and to compute the life-expectancy. To enable comparisons with life-expectancy-calculations of today, all data originally prepared by generations are transformed into period-tables according to modern demografic methods. Topics Regional and national datafiles on populationstructure, development of mortality, historical demography, family structure, date of birth, marriages, number of birth, date of death, cause of death, locality of death, occupation, occupation of the parents. This study is available as SPSS-Data file as well as a downloadable EXCEL-Data-File, offered via the online-downloadsystem HISTAT (Historical Statistics). In HISTAT timeseries data are available. Categorisation in HISTAT:In HISTAT an excerpt of the archived total data stock is offered. The total data stock can be ordered as individual personal data at GESIS, Data Archive and Data Analysis. A. Datatables about mortality (14 tables, timeseries)B. Synoptical mortality tables (14 tables, timeseries)C. Datatables about life expectancy (14 tables, timeseries)D. Synoptical tables: all regions (without Hamburg) by sex in periodical presentation. (14 tables, timeseries)
Over the past 160 years, life expectancy (from birth) in the United States has risen from 39.4 years in 1860, to 78.9 years in 2020. One of the major reasons for the overall increase of life expectancy in the last two centuries is the fact that the infant and child mortality rates have decreased by so much during this time. Medical advancements, fewer wars and improved living standards also mean that people are living longer than they did in previous centuries.
Despite this overall increase, the life expectancy dropped three times since 1860; from 1865 to 1870 during the American Civil War, from 1915 to 1920 during the First World War and following Spanish Flu epidemic, and it has dropped again between 2015 and now. The reason for the most recent drop in life expectancy is not a result of any specific event, but has been attributed to negative societal trends, such as unbalanced diets and sedentary lifestyles, high medical costs, and increasing rates of suicide and drug use.
See also ZA-Study 8066: Expectancy of life in Germany, 1700 to 1890.
Life expectancy in the United Kingdom was below 39 years in the year 1765, and over the course of the next two and a half centuries, it is expected to have increased by more than double, to 81.1 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout the UK's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. These changes were the result of smallpox epidemics in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, new sanitary and medical advancements throughout time (such as compulsory vaccination), and the First world War and Spanish Flu epidemic in the 1910s.
Life expectancy in India was 25.4 in the year 1800, and over the course of the next 220 years, it has increased to almost 70. Between 1800 and 1920, life expectancy in India remained in the mid to low twenties, with the largest declines coming in the 1870s and 1910s; this was because of the Great Famine of 1876-1878, and the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919, both of which were responsible for the deaths of up to six and seventeen million Indians respectively; as well as the presence of other endemic diseases in the region, such as smallpox. From 1920 onwards, India's life expectancy has consistently increased, but it is still below the global average.
Life expectancy in the Netherlands was just under forty in the year 1850, and over the course of the next 170 years, it is expected to have increased to more than 82 in 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout the Netherlands' history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most noticeable changes were a result of the Spanish Flu pandemic of the late-1910s, and the Second World War.
Long time series of Vienna’s population history from 1700 to 1999.
With this study the author A. Weigl submits the first detailed report on the population history of Vienna over the period from the late mediaevial time until the 20th century.
The author documents by means of the development of migration, reproduction and mortality the process of Vienna’s population history. Important influencing factors as for excample food pattern, plagues and epidemics, medical advance, the change of mentalities and influences by demographic policies are discussed in detail. The significant role of modenization-processes is in the focus of the publication.
By means of numerous long time series data the pecesses are documented empirically.
Content of the Study: - Demographic Change and Modernization - Main Features of Vienna’s Population Development - Migration: The Impetus for an Increasing Town - Mortality: From Town Refurbishment to Municipal Welfare Policy - Fertility: The Genesis of the Modern Family - The Common Modernizationcontext of Transition
List of Data-Tables in the GESIS-ZA-Online-Database HISTAT:
A. Population Development of Vienna
A.01 Population (1200-1999) A.02 Population Development by Territory as of Today (1590-1999) A.03 Regional Population Development (1700-1991) A.04 Population Movement (1869-1991) A.05 Agestructure (1856-1991) A.06 Population Development of the City, the suburbs and the periphery (1777-1857) A.07 Population by Urban Districts by Territory as of Today (1777-1991) A.08 Population by Urban Districts (1869-1939) A.09 Native Birth of the Population (1856-1934) A.10 Natural Population Movement (1707-1999) A.11 Proportion of Persons Younger than 14 Years by Urban Districts (1869-1939) A.12 Proportion of Persons in the Age of 60 and older by Urban Districts (1869-1939) A.13 Population and Birth Rates by Religious Denomination (1856-1939)
B. Migration
B.01 Ratios of Mobility-Transition (1710-1991) B.02 Acceptation of new Members into the Homeland Association (Naturalizations) (1919-1938)
C. Mortality
C.01 Age specific Mortality-Rates of Vienna (1856-1939) C.02 Age standardized Morality-Rates by Sex and by Causes of Death (1910-1935) C.03 Cholera-Mortality by Urnab Districts (1831-1873) C.04 Variola-Mortality (1728-1938) C.05 Average Life Expectancy (1830-1998) C.06a Age-Specific Mortality: Mortality Rates (1650-1999) C.06b Age-Specific Mortality: Agestructure of the Deceased (1650-1999) C.07a Infant Mortality (1728-1999) C.07b Infant Mortality Rate by Territory as of Today (1871-1938) C.08 Mortality Rates by Urban Districts (1871-1938) C.09 Infant Mortality by Urban Districts (1885-1911) C.10 Pulmonary Tuberculosis-Mortality by Urban Districts (1871-1938)
D. Fertiliy
D.01 General Fertility-Rate of Vienna (1856-1939) D.02 Fertility-Rate (1754-1999) D.03 Fertility-Indizes by Metropolitan Comparison (1910-1960) D.04 Illegitimacy-Rates (1797-1999) D.05 Marriage Rate, Birthrate and Deathrate (1706-1938) D.06 Marriage-, Mortality- and Infant Mortality Rate by Territory as of Today (1871-1938) D.07 Birth Rate by Urban Districts (1783-1938)
E. Housholds
E.01 Average Householdsize (1780-1991)
Life expectancy in Japan was 36.4 in the year 1860, and over the course of the next 160 years, it is expected to have increased to 84.4, which is the second highest in the world (after Monaco). Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Japan's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. These changes were a result of the Spanish Flu in the 1910s, the Second World War in the 1940s, and the sharp increase was due to the high rate of industrialization and economic prosperity in Japan, in the mid-twentieth century.
At the beginning of the 1840s, life expectancy from birth in Ireland was just over 38 years. However, this figure would see a dramatic decline with the beginning of the Great Famine in 1845, and dropped below 21 years in the second half of the decade (in 1849 alone, life expectancy fell to just 14 years). The famine came as a result of a Europe-wide potato blight, which had a disproportionally devastating impact on the Irish population due to the dependency on potatoes (particularly in the south and east), and the prevalence of a single variety of potato on the island that allowed the blight to spread faster than in other areas of Europe. Additionally, authorities forcefully redirected much of the country's surplus grain to the British mainland, which exacerbated the situation. Within five years, mass starvation would contribute to the deaths of over one million people on the island, while a further one million would emigrate; this also created a legacy of emigration from Ireland, which saw the population continue to fall until the mid-1900s, and the total population of the island is still well below its pre-famine level of 8.5 million people.
Following the end of the Great Famine, life expectancy would begin to gradually increase in Ireland, as post-famine reforms would see improvements in the living standards of the country’s peasantry, most notably the Land Wars, a largely successful series of strikes, boycotts and protests aimed at reform of the country's agricultural land distribution, which began in the 1870s and lasted into the 20th century. As these reforms were implemented, life expectancy in Ireland would rise to more than fifty years by the turn of the century. While this rise would slow somewhat in the 1910s, due to the large number of Irish soldiers who fought in the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic, as well as the period of civil unrest leading up to the island's partition in 1921, life expectancy in Ireland would rise greatly in the 20th century. In the second half of the 20th century, Ireland's healthcare system and living standards developed similarly to the rest of Western Europe, and today, it is often ranks among the top countries globally in terms of human development, GDP and quality of healthcare. With these developments, the increase in life expectancy from birth in Ireland was relatively constant in the first century of independence, and in 2020 is estimated to be 82 years.
Life expectancy in Spain was below thirty in the year 1880, and over the course of the next 140 years, it is expected to have increased to 83.4 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Spain's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most notable changes were a result of the global influenza epidemic of the 1910s, (called the 'Spanish Flu' as it received more press coverage in neutral Spain, during the First World War) and the Spanish Civil War two decades later.
Life expectancy in Germany was below 39 in the year 1875, and over the course of the next 145 years, it is expected to have increased to above 81 years in the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Germany's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most notable changes were because of the First and Second World Wars, in the first half of the twentieth century.
Life expectancy in Russia was 29.6 in the year 1845, and over the course of the next 175 years, it is expected to have increased to 72.3 years by 2020. Generally speaking, Russian life expectancy has increased over this 175 year period, however events such as the World Wars, Russian Revolution and a series of famines caused fluctuations before the mid-twentieth century, where the rate fluctuated sporadically. Between 1945 and 1950, Russian life expectancy more than doubled in this five year period, and it then proceeded to increase until the 1970s, when it then began to fall again. Between 1970 and 2005, the number fell from 68.5 to 65, before it then grew again in more recent years.
Life expectancy in Poland was 35.9 in the year 1885, and over the course of the next 135 years, it is expected to have increased to 78.5 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Poland's history, the most noticeable decline came in the 1940s as a result of the Second World War and Holocaust, which caused Poland's population to decline by about 17 percent, which was more than any other country.
Life expectancy in Italy was just under thirty in the year 1870, and over the course of the next 150 years, it is expected to have increased to 83.3 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Italy's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. The most noticeable changes were a result of the First World War and Spanish Flu epidemic, and also the Second World War and Italian Civil War.
Life expectancy in Canada was just below forty in the year 1800, and over the course of the next 220 years, it is expected to have increased by more than double to 82.2 by the year 2020. Throughout this time, life expectancy in Canada progressed at a steady rate, with the most noticeable changes coming during the interwar period, where the rate of increase was affected by the Spanish Flu epidemic and both World Wars.
Life expectancy in China was just 32 in the year 1850, and over the course of the next 170 years, it is expected to more than double to 76.6 years in 2020. Between 1850 and 1950, finding reliable data proved difficult for anthropologists, however some events, such as the Taiping Rebellion and Dungan Revolt in the nineteenth century did reduce life expectancy by a few years, and also the Chinese Civil War and Second World War in the first half of the twentieth century. In the second half of the 1900s, Chinese life expectancy increased greatly, as the country became more industrialized and the standard of living increased.
Life expectancy in Sweden was 36 in the year 1765, and over the course of the next 255 years, it is expected to have increased to 82.6 by 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Sweden's history, there was a lot of fluctuation around the turn of the nineteenth century due to The Napoleonic Wars and First Cholera Epidemic, and again in the 1910s due to the Spanish Flu Epidemic.
It is only in the past two centuries where demographics and the development of human populations has emerged as a subject in its own right, as industrialization and improvements in medicine gave way to exponential growth of the world's population. There are very few known demographic studies conducted before the 1800s, which means that modern scholars have had to use a variety of documents from centuries gone by, along with archeological and anthropological studies, to try and gain a better understanding of the world's demographic development. Genealogical records One such method is the study of genealogical records from the past; luckily, there are many genealogies relating to European families that date back as far as medieval times. Unfortunately, however, all of these studies relate to families in the upper and elite classes; this is not entirely representative of the overall population as these families had a much higher standard of living and were less susceptible to famine or malnutrition than the average person (although elites were more likely to die during times of war). Nonetheless, there is much to be learned from this data. Impact of the Black Death In the centuries between 1200 and 1745, English male aristocrats who made it to their 21st birthday were generally expected to live to an age between 62 and 72 years old. The only century where life expectancy among this group was much lower was in the 1300s, where the Black Death caused life expectancy among adult English noblemen to drop to just 45 years. Experts assume that the pre-plague population of England was somewhere between four and seven million people in the thirteenth century, and just two million in the fourteenth century, meaning that Britain lost at least half of its population due to the plague. Although the plague only peaked in England for approximately eighteen months, between 1348 and 1350, it devastated the entire population, and further outbreaks in the following decades caused life expectancy in the decade to drop further. The bubonic plague did return to England sporadically until the mid-seventeenth century, although life expectancy among English male aristocrats rose again in the centuries following the worst outbreak, and even peaked at more than 71 years in the first half of the sixteenth century.