The Longevity Academy

Masterclass 2 : One simple idea that saved billions of children’s lives

The oldest reliable data on life expectancy tends to originate from England and Sweden due to a combination of factors, including early population registration systems, relatively stable social and political environments, and a strong interest in collecting and analyzing demographic data.

Hi, and welcome to the second masterclass from The Longevity Academy in understanding how longevity is changing how we live, work and play today and in the future.

In the first class we established two important facts:

1. Life expectancy at birth has been increasing with three months every year since the 1840s, from around the historical 35 year that lasted for millennia to over 80 years today in the developed world.

2. The standard method for measuring life expectancy is taking a snapshot in time (called period) but if we follow a generation, so called cohort, the life expectancy will increase by 20-25 years, starting with Gen X.

Today we’ll look at what kickstarted the growth in life expectancy over the past 180 years. Before then, life expectancy had consistently been 35 years across the world with the occasional dips due to wars, famines, and epidemics.

The first health innovation addressed first and foremost the high child mortality.

The Longevity Academy is included in a paid membership of Fewer Better Things which you can subscribe to here.

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