Health in the 1600s: Life Expectancy, Epidemics, and the Roots of Modern Medicine

Life Expectancy

Average ~35 years, reflecting poor sanitation, nutrition, and medical care. ~1/3 of children died before age 1.

Common Deadly Diseases

• Smallpox
• Measles
• Influenza
• Tuberculosis
• Dysentery
• Plague (Yersinia pestis)

Medical Care

Sparse, untrained practitioners; treatments (bloodletting, purging, toxic substances) based on outdated theories.

Hygiene

Deplorable: rare bathing, overcrowded, unsanitary homes—ideal for disease spread.

18th-Century Improvements

• Sanitation and waste disposal systems
• Better nutrition from agricultural reforms
• Smallpox inoculation, early vaccines
• Emergence of scientific medicine and institutional research

These advances gradually raised life expectancy and lowered infant mortality.