So? 400,000 people a year is what % of total mortality?
World population in 1800 was about a billion, and we’ll ballpark 1/5th of the population being in Europe and 1/40th of them dying per year(which is probably better life expectancy than the world had, but about right for Europe). That means about 5 million deaths per year, so 400k would be 8%. And it’s not like smallpox was the only plague around, either.
In an important way diseases don’t kill people, poverty, hunger, and lack of sanitation kills people. The deaths were almost all happening in the poorest, and the most abused parts of the world—India and Africa.
In an even more important way, diseases kill people. Yes, if smallpox came back today(or a non-vaccinatible equivalent) it’d kill a lot fewer people than it used to because of better quarantine, sanitation, and all that fun stuff. Same way AIDS is a minor problem here and a world-ender in sub-Saharan Africa. But it’s not like we lack for infectious disease in the developed world.
World population in 1800 was about a billion, and we’ll ballpark 1/5th of the population being in Europe and 1/40th of them dying per year(which is probably better life expectancy than the world had, but about right for Europe). That means about 5 million deaths per year, so 400k would be 8%. And it’s not like smallpox was the only plague around, either.
In an even more important way, diseases kill people. Yes, if smallpox came back today(or a non-vaccinatible equivalent) it’d kill a lot fewer people than it used to because of better quarantine, sanitation, and all that fun stuff. Same way AIDS is a minor problem here and a world-ender in sub-Saharan Africa. But it’s not like we lack for infectious disease in the developed world.