The life expectancy of an Ancient Egyptian is very different to that of a modern day person. While undoubtably, people lived to an older age, it was somewhat uncommon to live over the age of around 40 years of age. To them, 18 years old (The age of King Tutankhamun at his death) was seen as mature to their society for his kingly and family responsibilities and so to reach ages 40 - 100 was seen as an accomplishment, especially with all the diseases.
After age 40, the Egyptiains expected to live and enjoy the best years of his life, using his experience from his knowledge and his labor to guide. Following the instructions from the scribe of Ani "Never remain seated if a man older than yourself is standing" shows how respected the older people were and proves that the Egyptians believed that reaching this age deserved a reward for the attainment of this age and for blameless behaviour. The elderly were appreciated for their wisdom and their wise advice shared about their experiences earned attention and recognition. For example, workmen received a monthly grain-ration for working, and although the amount was lower, the elderly also received rations, simply for being old.
How childbirth affected women's age
Dwarf god Bes, Protector of Pregnant Women
The Ancient Egyptians ideally wanted large families and so they experimented with a variety of ways to help in childbirth, some of these ways include using crocodile dung, honey or oil. None of them helped very much and so inevitably the death toll was pretty high during conceiving. Because children and teenage girls were needed to help their families and parents, they were often found to have numerous teenage pregnancies, many of these unsuccessful due to a lack of knowledge. If however, they were successful, then the woman could still die of later complications like puerperal fever.
Ancient Egyptian coffin
" A man will spend ten years as a child before he understands death and life. He spends another ten years acquiring the instruction by which he will be able to live. He spends another ten years earning and gaining possessions by which to live. He spends another ten years up to old age, when his heart becomes his counsellor. There remain sixty years of the whole life, which Thoth has assigned to be the man of god. "
- A passage from The Insinger Papyrus, in the Ptolemaic period
Adult female skeleton, with the skeleton of a child by her ankles
Infancy
One of the main times in an Ancient Egyptian's life where they were most liable to diseases and illnesses was when they were a newborn. Infant mortality is when a child dies that is under the age of 1 and these rates in Ancient Egypt were higher than that of any other age, almost one third of all deaths were infants (other than dying of old age). Whilst the children were being breast fed they were essentially protected from diseases and infections but however once they started eating solid foods the risks came back. Many children died of diarrhoea or similar due to consuming bacteria-ridden food