During the Iron and the Bronze Ages, the average human life expectancy was at around 18 years.

In Ancient Rome, until the year 100 BC the human lifespan was only 22 years.

Life expectancy increased up to 33 during the Medieval Ages and to 34 during the 17th century.

In the 19th century, the general life expectancy was still at around 37 (Halley)

Life expectancy increased up to 47 in the beginning of 20th century.

Life expectancy first started to increase in the industrial countries. In the mid-1960’s, it increased up to 70

These data Show that until very recently, life was very much hand in hand with death.

People used to die young and could not get old. Hence, aging and senility were not serious issues.

Currently, the situation has been reversed. Contemporary societies are very much willing to structure the possibilities of interventions in aging and the aging process. The main reason for this is the fact that no one is willing to spend their old age as dependent on others. It is now the human duty to acknowledge individual’s problems, understand their issues and solve them.

The main reason for the longer life expectancy depends on a number of reasons (medical, developments, conditions of nutrition etc.) like the increasing number of healthy individuals. However, the danger of dependency during old age is still there, because the number of old people in need of care has increased.