How unusual is it to have all four grandparents alive?

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A friend of mine is 31 and has all four of her grandparents. They’re all in their late 80s. I said to her that must be quite rare but she said she’d never thought of it like that.

I had 3 (one suicide when DM was a baby) till I was well into my 30s, which was brilliant. No one had dementia, which makes the difference.

Higher social class makes you live longer, but it also means you have children much later.

Appallingly, in the social housing DM ran, children in their 70s still cared for DMs in their 90s. The children usually died first. No one asked why. Which shows you what people secretly know about eldercare.

DH and I are about the same age as your friend. We both only have 1 living DGP each.

I lost my first when I was 7 and then i was 31, 34 and 43 when I lost the others.

My 2 grandfathers were only in their 40s when I was born so yes they became dads young. Grans were older.

I think I had 2 grandparents when I was 31. But like people say, it very much depends on when different generations have children. My last grandparent died when I was 35, but she was 97. My children haven't lost any grandparents yet, eldest is 24. Apart from one they never had. I know of a 60 year old with a grandmother still!

Unusual in your 30s. I was born (to 30yo parents) and lost all 4 biological grandparents by 11. My husband is early 30s and has one grandparent.

I imagine those having kids in their late teens/ early 20s would have higher chance of it but then, doing some socio-economic stereotyping(!), they will have grandparents more likely to die late 50s or early 60s from smoking, drinking, just harder lifestyles.

I still have two grandparents who are 90. Up to the age of 18 had 3 Great Grandmothers and 1 great grandfather they all passed away very old in quick succession bizarrely. The oldest was 106. My dad died when he was 46 and his mother my grandmother was 64 both her parents outlived her,

My mums dad died before I was born as did my dad's mum

Growing up on my mums side had my great gran till I was 14, my nan died in 2011

My paternal grandad died in 2000 but due to family conflict etc, we didn't see him for many years and my paternal grandads wife is around 90+

Two of mine died when I was a baby so I never knew them. The other two lived overseas so I never saw them. They died when I was in my teens.

So I've never known what it's like to have GPs and most people I know haven't got any either. Or if they do, it's only one. I don't know anyone with four living GPs - so yes, I'd say it was unusual.

its weird to think about because until I was 17 all 4 of mine were alive, I still have my dads parents but we aren’t close and I haven’t seen them for 15 years. My mums dad died in 2005 and my mums mum died in 2018. My dc have 3 grandparents. My mum and dad and DP dad. His mum died in 2010, she had seen DS16 but never got to meet dd11

My Dad's parents died when I was 25 and 33, then my Mum's parents both died when I was 45, within four weeks of each other.

I don't think I know anyone who still has all four grandparents still alive at 30, though I can't say I've asked either. I lost all of mine before I turned 30, my cousin lost all hers by 14.

I think it really does depend on people's ages having children! A friend who is a few months younger than me (we're 30) has a grandma who is just a few months younger than my dad (70), meaning my grandparents (95 and 104) are old enough to be her great grandparents!

I was 4, 23, 25 and 45 when mine died. My niece age 30 still has all 4 of hers.

I'm 32 and have 4 (one being my dad's step mum) and I lost my last great grand parent last year. My papa (dad's mum) is currently under palliative care, dad's step mum has dementia. His mum died 3 years ago suddenly. My daughter has 4 grandparents and 4 great grandparents xxx

I was 3 when my last DGGP died.

I was 19 when my first DGP died, then 35 for the next, 37 and 38 for the final 2. My dd knew those 3 fairly well (she was 4, and 6, when they passed).

Dd is now 18, she was 8 when her first DGP died and the remaining 3 are still hale and hearty.

As pp have said, hugely dependent on everyone’s personal circumstances. My maternal grandfather was born during the First World War; my mother was the last of five children and born 20 years after her oldest sibling. So this grandfather died when I was very small (early 90s). I never met anyone else my age who had a grandparent born before 1920.

All four of my grandparents were alive when I was born, but both grandfathers dead before I was 3. Then had one grandmother into early teens and the other into early 20s.

I never met anyone else my age who had a grandparent born before 1920.

My youngest brother was born 1988 and one of our grans was born in 1919.

I had both of my Dads parents still alive when I was 34 (died later that year, within weeks if each other)
My Mums parents died younger - her mum when she was a baby, her Dad when I was about 9.

I should have added I come from long lived families on both sides - the youngest was 79 but the rest were all in their early to late 90s. DGGM was 104. DFIL was 70 when he died.

I think it's quite unusual.

I had all 8 great grandparents when i was born. My last great grandparent died when I was in my late 20s.

One of my grandparents died when I was 9, another when I was 37 and the other 2 died in their mid 90s when I was in my mid to late 40s.

I lost two grandparents when I was a child and felt hugely privileged to still have two when I turned 30. Now just one and still very lucky to have known her for so long. Would be so pleased if my parents are around long enough to see my children into adulthood.

To lose one grandparent may be regarded as unfortunate.
To lose all four seems like carelessness.

Totally depends on how young your GPs and parents were when they had kids.

I know people in their early 30s who are grandparents already, so no it wouldn’t surprise me if they were still alive in 30 years’ time. I had DS when I was 38, I’m not expecting to be around when his kids are 31 as I’ll be in my late 90s.

I'm 35 and still have 1 grandparent, I had 2 until I was 31.

Other set were older and died when I was 15 and 23.

DH hasn't had any grandparents for over a decade.

Mine all died in the space of a few years when I was a small child, the first when I was nearly 2 and the last when I was 5. I never really knew them and don't have any memories of them.

I'm the other end of the extreme but I do think having all four alive into your 30s is very unusual.