To ask what age you would say is no longer dying young

70

The average life expectancy in the UK according to gov stats is now 79 for men and 83 for women.
So i'd say from 75 for men and 78 for women would be expected as a reasonable lifetime.
Under retirement age i'd definitely think as dying too young

I was shocked when DH died age 69, I expected 10 more years with him.

As a general statistic, I'd agree with 80+, but I wouldn't go around saying "Ooh, she was young" or "That's no age is it" or "It's terribly sad to lose someone so young" etc if they were over 75.

When it is someone you are close to though, it does depend on circumstances to a greater extent. Someone who has been suffering for a long time, it doesn't feel the same as someone who just dies suddenly and unexpectedly.

According to Age Concern, you are elderly at 55 so I would draw the line for dying young in your 40s if you are normally health but at retirement age if you are not.

This is something I've thought about recently. I remember when I was in my 20s and someone said a friend's brother had died, so young. In my head I was thinking under 40 but he was 56 and my stupid lack of brain to mouth filter said oh I thought you meant, like, young. Now of course, older and wiser, I can't believe i even thought it!

It's like being at school and you thought your teachers were old but they were only in their 30s!

To answer the question I feel under 70 is too young, under 80 more expected but too soon.

It also depends on the individual. Loved ones who have passed in their 80s still went too son to me because they were still so fit and it was due to other circumstances.

I feel like dying at 70 is not old. But it wouldnt make me go "wow, dies so young. So much life ahead". So there is dying young which I would say under 50 and then there is dying sooner than expected which would be 50-75. Then 75 onwards it would not have an age related reaction.

My mum died at 49 which I would say was young. My dad died at 66 which I wouldn’t consider young. So I’d say under 60.

I tho I it depends how old you are. When I was in my 20s I thought 70 was a good innings. Now im in my 50s it’s too young!! I’d say 80+ isn’t “too young”!

I'd class dying young being in your 60's now with anything over that still in "had a good innings" territory.

I think once you lose someone the perspective changes. I lost my Dad 3 days after I lost my Granny. Dad was 76, Granny was 94

I processed DG differently because she had lived a really long fulfilled good life. With Dad I felt that he was robbed of another 20 years and so was I, even though I knew that was unlikely, it felt so hard to accept and I was slightly bitter at the world for that.

So for me personally I’d say anything over 85.

I'd say before 50 is young, 50-60 is middle aged. My Mum died at 68 which felt too young to die but I wouldn't have thought of putting "died young" on her announcement in the newspaper.

However, I've noticed that the older I get, the older I think "old" is. As a kid I actually believed people were old once they hit 30. I'm now 35 and how very dare I! 😂

My dad died aged 67. I was 17 at the time. I always thought he was old but looking back I realise he wasn’t at all.

60 something. You’ve lived a fairly full life, any kids are usually adults.

’Very young’ to me is under 40, and ‘young’ is 40-60.

85 + my mother was 94 and still working voluntarily..

It's not young, but it's young to die.

Under 80 is too young, between 80 and 90, its a shame as there's still a life to live, after 90, then yeah, good innings

I would say 70

65+

I would say 75.

I remember many of aunties years back commenting on someone dying at 83.

And saying "Ooh..That's no age"

Dying young 60s or lower.

Dying too early 70s.

Pretty normal 80s.

Had a good innings 90s

Any age you couldn’t say they had a good innings is too young.

I would agree with a PP who said this-

Very young - before 50
Young - before 70
Too early - before 80
Expected 85+

I lost my Dad 2 years ago, he was 76. Fit and well a month before he died, but then suddenly that changed and he died at the end within a month of heart failure. That felt too early, but at the same time I was aware he was ‘older.’ I think in abstract, I would say before you are 80 feels younger than expected nowadays.

Yes, I see what you mean but I only said below 70 was young and I also didn’t say below 85 was unexpected. I left 80-84 as very much a grey area dependent on overall health to date.

I said this:

Very young - before 50
Young - before 70
Too early - before 80
Expected 85+

Anyway, this is just what deaths have generally felt like to me over my life so far.
Sadly, I have known a lot of people who died well before 79 too - just in my own family three people in their thirties and three as children and many more than that if I include neighbours, friends and colleagues.

My mum died at 41, and I was only 4 so that will always feel very young to me.
My dad died at 84, and it was a surprise he lived that long as he didn’t look after his health at all, and his death was definitely expected. PIL are 84 now and they are chalk and cheese in terms of their health, independence and mobility compared with my dad. Think that is why 80-84 feels more like a grey area to me. In the last five years also had a couple of dear friends/neighbours die of cancer at 78/79, they were fit and active and didn’t present as elderly at all so yes that did feel too early although of course not shockingly so or young.

So, yes 85+ good innings. 80-84 not bad…