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

[Whyohwhy88]

Although hard still I feel from 80 onwards it’s expected

Agreed. My parents died at 62 and 63. I was (and to some extent still am) devastated, and would have loved to have them for another 10 or 15 years, but dying ‘young’ to me is e.g. one of my husband’s friends who died at 43.

Anything over 60 - not old old, but it’s no longer a shocker like if someone was in their 40’s.

70s
I think the average age in the 80s skews things a bit. People think if you die before that then you died too young.

When a celeb dies in their 90s and beyond, you always get the performative grief from people thinking it was a tragedy. No, it is sad, but it was an inevitability.

Under 45 = young
Under 60 = untimely
Under 80 = sooner than might have been reasonably expected

All of course dependent on any underlying health conditions and/or lifestyle choices. It wouldn't for example be reasonable to expect a heavy smoker or type 2 diabetic to get past 80, though of course some will..

Any age under 85 is young.

70+

I applaud the statistically based approach, but I think people mentally characterise younger deaths as tragically young, and different from older but too young to die. The life expectancy for those who make it to 50 is probably the average that should be used here.

85+ But it really depends on the person.... some people can be totally amazing into their 90s and you'd be surprised they've died... other people give up on life much earlier... even in their 60s and it's not surprising.

I think it’s worth baring in mind that medical science keeps people alive when once they would have died.
Still being alive at 80 but having to live in a care home due to dementia for example is not living to me.
Quite frankly it’s just existing.
This skews the mortality figures.
There are also lots of people who seem shocked that a relative who smokes, drinks doesn’t eat healthily, doesn’t exercise, has had several strokes, has atrial fibrillation, had cancer etc. dies. Always seems bizarre to me. It’s not like they were a fit 20 year old.

So, 60 then?

That's young to me.

As I am galloping up to 70, but have had friends, who died in their 20s and 30s, I would say under 60 is dying young, if from natural causes.

80+ I would say. My father is 88 this year and in pretty good shape. He walks a lot and has is active. He could probably do with getting into the gym and lifting some weights though. He’s never been particularly big, but I have noticed his muscle mass has been declining fairly significantly since he turned 80.

I think this is a good definition. No one is saying "young" about people in their 70s and 80s in real life. Someone who died at 75 after living a full life, maybe having children who are now middle-aged adults with children of their own, did not "die young".

Sometimes it seems like accepting that we do, in fact, get old, and that at a certain point we die, has changed to "every death is a devastating tragedy that happened too soon" and I don't think that's a healthy way to view death.

It was meant tongue in cheek. But to die at 67 would be considered to die young. In my opinion.

Late 70s. My mil was 70 which seemed young. My fil was 79 which seemed a decent age.

75

My dad used to say he would be happy if he made it to 70 (which would also be the year 2000). He died aged 65 😢

I’m 65 and I hope I’ve got about another 20 years left.

Below 50’s for me. Anything above that seems pretty normal.

I’d define dying young as under 70, but if someone dies in their 70s I’d still say it was before their time.

It’s definitely not normal to die in your 50s.

My dad used to say he would be happy with ‘three score years and ten’ but when he was near to death at 82 he cried as he said there’s never enough time and he wished he had more.

@cramptramp Perhaps in the past but not nowadays. My friend (52) with terminal cancer will leave behind teenagers- it’s completely normal to have children in your 30’s now and dying before they’re adults is surely on the young side. Not young, but def. on the younger side.

DH and I were talking about this recently, in the context of a relative who died in his mid 50s. We felt that he hadn't died young, but he was young to die.

Lol it’s really not normal to die 30 years earlier than the average life expectancy

What exactly is the difference?