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See this chart on historical life expectancy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy#Life_expectancy...

Early 20th century was also 30 years. Ancient Rome was 20-30.

These expectancies were low chiefly because of high infant mortality. A life expectancy of "two days" really drags down your average.

Average life expectancy is not a good measure for everyday arguments. Paleolithic average life expectancy was actually quite high relative to the historical periods that followed.




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