Mean _is_ average. You perhaps mean median?

Even then though, in e.g. Victorian times, the median (50th percentile) gets skewed by horrendously high infant mortality.

Looking at the 75th or 80th percentile, or the life expectancy for an 18 year old, is a better measure. High scores for the 75th can mask deaths due to inequality to some extent, but because wealth distributions are _so_ skewed at the top, the 75th percentile typically looks more like an average/poor person than a rich person.