It shows the age 30 life expectancy, in 1900 it was 35 years, so 65 year old. Compare to today which is 47 years (77 years old).
There are life tables for historical periods, but the modern data is likely more reliable and still shows quite some difference.
Your link makes a good point about life expectancy at birth not being the right measure, but there is a very real expansion in life expectancy that has taken place. I guess infectious disease control probably pulled a lot of that expansion into the last 100 years.
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/as120/LifeTables_Tbl_10.html#w...
It shows the age 30 life expectancy, in 1900 it was 35 years, so 65 year old. Compare to today which is 47 years (77 years old).
There are life tables for historical periods, but the modern data is likely more reliable and still shows quite some difference.
Your link makes a good point about life expectancy at birth not being the right measure, but there is a very real expansion in life expectancy that has taken place. I guess infectious disease control probably pulled a lot of that expansion into the last 100 years.