To be surprised approx 12% of adults die by age 70?

[Constantrunner]

By adults I mean they die between 18 and 70 years of age. This includes some of my friends who died of cancer, but it still surprises me that the figure is so high. Bu5 maybe it's well known and it's just me who had no idea?

My lived experience of losing multiple friends younger than 70 to suicide, cancer, heart issues and stroke, a car accident and both my grandparents didnt make 70, im surprised it isnt higher tbh

I don’t think it’s a shock

Mortality rates vary so much by country, area of the country and even within towns or cities. And are very dependent on socio economic conditions as well as other factors.
The real disgrace is the low life expectancy rate of people in deprived areas as opposed to wealthy ones

Im actually surprised that it’s as low as that.

I'm surprised 78% of adults survive past 70

12% doesn't actually sound that high to me. Look at all the potential causes of death: disease, car accidents, crime, plague, food poisoning, etc. Switch it around, and despite all those things, having 88% of us survive to our 70s sounds like a very positive number.

I think that’s actually quite low. So many people - including me - have chronic health issues at younger ages now (I have lupus, Addisons and all sorts of autoimmune issues).

So 88% of adults live beyond 70. Doesn't seem that surprising really. Younger people die from cancer, other diseases, accidents, misadventure, suicide and poor lifestyle choices.

I had thought I must live in an 'unlucky' patch where several of my kids' peers have lost parents at a young age due to sudden illness, long-term illness, car crashes, etc. but actually I suppose this is normal. It is awful really and life can be short.

At least two people in my year at school have died by mid-40s. It could be more.

I’m surprised it’s so low! My DM is the only person in her family to reach 70, and she had 5 siblings! Her parents and siblings (and their spouses) all died in their 50s and 60s.

I thought it would have been higher but I am glad it's not. My parents both died at 64 and my 2 best friends at 50. All cancer.

I’m also actually surprised it isn’t higher. I know multiple people who died before 70. Most of them in their 60s of things like cancer/stroke/heart attack etc. Including my dad (66), 2 grandfathers (59 and 65), one grandmother (60), aunt (63). My mother just made it past the cut off and died at 71.
In my world i only hear about these fit as a fiddle, rich, marathon running 90 year olds on here. I rarely come across them in my real life.

In the UK or world? To me that sounds about what I'd expect for UK.

A lot of people who are about 55-65 now grew up in an era where unhealthy habits were much more normalised. Smoking, daily fairly heavy drinking, drugs like heroin and crack blew up in the 80s-90s, so did HIV.

I suppose someone unhealthy might struggle to get much beyond 70 and there are plenty of unhealthy people!

To me I guess it's a bit skewed as a lot of my family died before 70. My dad and uncle were 55, my granddads 50 and 60. But hopefully now people are living longer. It's more about quality of life than longevity though.

It's not surprising to me in that, looking around me, there isn't a cliff edge point by which most people start to die. It's a gentle curve, only in my experience that curve starts from 68.

Where does the stat come from?

I unfortunately know a lot of people who have died before 70 in my close circle of friends, three before age 55. Friends Mum died at 62 and a friend’s GF died at 34. The younger people I know who died it was cancer, a blood clot and two got Covid in the first wave.

The people we know who lived the longest and were still very healthy up till mid 90’s was a great aunt of mine who lived on a small holding and DH great uncle who was a fireman in The blitz in WW2 and was still walking a couple of miles to get his morning paper till he literally just dropped dead. My Uncle died later eighties having worked on farms all his life and also just died. Friends Dad also a farmer was the same, pulling lambs out of the snow till he was 82, then just died, no chronic prolonged illness.

Sorry, my experience also suggests this figure is on the low side if anything. I believe there are still some areas of Scotland where the average mortality is way lower than most other regions. I lost my mother at 49 and none of my grandparents were alive when I was born. I’m glad as many as 88% survive beyond 70 because that age is hurtling towards me now 🤨

Surprised it's not higher than 12%.

Both my own father and FIL died in their 60s and both had led a healthy lifestyle, i.e. sport, exercise, no/little alcohol, non smokers, not overweight, yet both struck down in their 60s, one with cancer (a non lifestyle related cancer) and the other died suddenly with an aneurism (again, not lifestyle related).

One of my clients (again, healthy lifestyle) died after a blood clot in his leg moved to his heart causing a massive heart attack - no pre-existing conditions, fit and healthy etc.

There are lots of things that can "get you" despite living a fit and healthy lifestyle. Most cancers aren't lifestyle related yet all we hear are from the cancers that DO have lifestyle causes, i.e. smoking, sunbathing, overweight, etc!

My DH was struck down with another non lifestyle related cancer in his early 50s - he's still with us, but that's down to ongoing chemo drugs and infusions that control the disease as it's incurable, but we're under no misapprehension that he'll live to see his 70th birthday - we know he won't as his deterioration is clear and more and more things are going wrong with his body because of the cancer and the chemo. Prior to diagnosis, he was a healthy weight, never smoked nor taken drugs, very little alcohol (literally only a glass or two of wine per year!), playing golf, cycling, skiing, walking, etc.

Why on earth are you surprised? This planet is rammed with things, both natural and man-made, that easily kill humans. Indeed, we are wired to crave things which, in modern society, shorten our lives, such as calorific food and inactivity. In this context, 12% sounds pretty good going.

We're all surprised to hear that 😉

Humans eh ? Yes many of my peers haven't made it to my age , some just bad luck, some lifestyle choices ( drugs, booze and tobacco) We are all just living on borrowed time anyway aren't we ? If you want to see where you are in relation( age wise) to the rest of the world , go on population.i.o There you can see ,percentage, of people younger and people older than you . Sobering statistics ...makes you think " just got to get on with getting as much out of life as you can" before popping yer clogs !

I thought it would be higher than 12%, closer to 25%.
I'm probably very unlucky, but I only have a small family and have lost my Mum, Dad, 2x grandparents, 1x uncle and 1x cousin, plus my best friend, all before the age of 70.

Just for the hell of it I went on population.i.o. and checked my own statistics. At age 70 I am older than 93% of the worlds population ☹️

At least ten of my school year peers have died tragically young in their 20s 30s and 40s. Cancer and suicide the main causes.

Ysah same here tbh on the percentage