In the Middle Ages, the average life span of males born in landholding families in England was 31.3 years and the biggest danger was surviving childhood. Once children reached the age of 10, their life expectancy was 32.2 years, and for those who survived to 25, the remaining life expectancy was 23.3 years.

In the Middle Ages (approx. 500–1500 CE), the average life expectancy at birth was shockingly low, often cited as being between 30 and 35 years. However, this number is highly misleading because it is skewed by an incredibly high infant and child mortality rate; roughly 25–30% of children died before their first birthday, and another 20% before age 10. If a person survived past the "danger zone" of childhood and reached the age of 21, they had a very good chance of living into their 60s or even 70s. Life for an adult was not necessarily "short," but it was "risky" due to the lack of antibiotics, poor sanitation, and the constant threat of famine or the Black Death (which killed 30–50% of Europe's population in the 14th century). Wealthy nobles and monks tended to live longer than peasants due to better nutrition and less physical labor, but even a king could be taken out by a simple infected wound. In 2026, historians emphasize that the "30-year life expectancy" of the Middle Ages does not mean everyone died young, but rather reflects the tragic reality of how difficult it was to survive the first few years of life in a pre-modern world.