Life Expectancy In Ancient Rome

Introduction To Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome people lived extremely short lives and the average life expectancy during this time was approximately twenty-five to forty-five years old and only two percent of the population lived to eighty years old. This is very low in comparison to the average life expectancy in the modern society which can go up to approximately seventy-five to ninety years of age. The life expectancy was so low in ancient Roman times because there weren’t any effective medicines and people didn’t have decent diets, there was poor sanitation as well as an overcrowded population. The ancient Romans also didn’t live in particularly good environments as to how people live in the modern society and because of this there were various diseases that killed a lot of people because of the overall poor living conditions and there was no antibiotics or other vital medicines that could help fight off the diseases and illnesses. Common diseases were cholera, gastroenteritis, hepatitis and typhoid. During ancient Rome a vast number of women and babies didn’t survive childbirth around …show more content…
This is because the warmer temperatures fuelled the spread of these diseases and ancient Roman writers urged the ancient Romans to leave the city and go to a healthier climate so they don’t catch any of the life threatening diseases. Approximately 30,000 Romans died every summer. If the numbers got really high during this time it would of resulted in higher levels of illnesses and the ancient Romans referred to this as being a plague. During the winter months (December to March) there wasn’t as many diseases as the temperatures weren’t as warm and usually only the sick and the elderly were only affected as they weren’t strong enough to fight the cold