this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2025
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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by EfreetSK@lemmy.world to c/comicstrips@lemmy.world
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[โ€“] kyonshi@dice.camp 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

@lugal @EfreetSK child mortality rates were pretty fucking high in earlier times. Around the time the original poem was published 40-50% of children under 15 died.

Only vaccines and modern medicine put this down to 4.2% globally in 2022, with the most developed countries reaching 0.3%

That is to say... that poem had a point.

Long-term Diagram of child mortality showing a sharp drop from 50% over most of hostory to close to 0-5% at current times

yup. childhood mortality was so high that average lifespan was 40-ish years, but life expectancy at age 20 would be 60-70 years old.