Even for males in the 20 to 30s in pre modern societies the chance of death (ignoring violence etc.) was several times higher than now. For females the risk of

Even for males in the 20 to 30s in pre modern societies the chance of death (ignoring violence etc.) was several times higher than now. For females the risk of death during childhood was about 1% per event. So if you had 8+ children (half of whom died). Divided per 20 years that alone is 5 times or so higher chance to die per year than a 30 year old woman has today (from all causes). > However those who survived to adulthood had a life expectancy considerably closer to modern ones than most IIRC based on the data we have that was only the case in parts Colonial New England where a majority of 20 year olds could expect to reach 60+. But that was a huge exception compared to every other agricultural society that we know of.