> (up until the 1800s, average life expectancy was barely 40!), This is mostly tangential to your point, but life expectancy for those that survived the first

> (up until the 1800s, average life expectancy was barely 40!), This is mostly tangential to your point, but life expectancy for those that survived the first five years of life has never been 40. The averages for older populations are massively dragged down by the deaths of babies and small children either in childbirth or due to infectious diseases.