# How old is "too young to die"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871 "2013-02-10T14:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/1 "2013-02-10T14:28:03Z")
When someone dies, you often hear people say that they were too young to die - that the age at which they died was a young age to die. What’s the oldest age at which you would consider someone “too young to die”? ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/2 "2013-02-10T14:34:58Z")
I can’t answer using your poll options, because my answer is totally dependent upon the specific person involved. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/3 "2013-02-10T14:40:09Z")
I agree. I went for 60-69. 61 seems way too young. To be honest, though, I know people who if they dropped off at 68 I’d think “well, they had a decent run.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/4 "2013-02-10T19:53:10Z")
One year older than me. (= 63) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/5 "2013-02-10T20:19:28Z")
All of your options are way too old. I’d say 18. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/6 "2013-02-10T20:29:35Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > All of your options are way too old. I’d say 18. I’d say about 30 or so. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/7 "2013-02-10T21:01:17Z")
I would say small children, maybe teenagers. Other than that, nope, not too young. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/8 "2013-02-10T21:02:34Z")
Here is a survival curve with various years, the most recent being 1997 [http://www.cdc.gov/osels/scientific\_edu/ss1978/lesson4/images/Figure4.17.jpg](http://www.cdc.gov/osels/scientific_edu/ss1978/lesson4/images/Figure4.17.jpg) Survival rate as of 1997 was pretty close to 100% up until your 50s, when it drops very slowly, picking up speed at 60, although it is still about 95% at 60. However by age 70 it is still about 80% change of survival. By 80 it is down to about 60%, by 90 it is about 20%. So I guess I’d pick 50-59 as too young to die. I don’t consider someone 60-69 too young to die, but I do consider it somewhat unusual when I see it. If someone dies in their 70s I assume they had decent genetics but either got unlucky or had a terrible lifestyle. Past 80 and I don’t expect many to live much longer, including myself (I am planning my retirement savings on the assumption I will die in my early 80s). Those numbers are more or less in line with the generic survival curve. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/9 "2013-02-10T21:16:02Z")
I don’t think I can answer this question generally, and if I could, I’d need younger answers in the poll than you gave. I’m not saying that I’d have chosen a younger answer, just that without the ability to choose something younger, I don’t want to click on 50-59 or 60-69. And so much depends on their quality of life . . . ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/10 "2013-02-10T21:22:39Z")
Early 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/11 "2013-02-10T21:27:22Z")
If its someone your really close to, like a parent, you always wish they had more time, if they die at 90 you wish they could have lived to 95 like so and so did. I’m not sure if I can answer but maybe 70-79 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/12 "2013-02-10T21:33:42Z")
Whatever age I am when I die. Never saw any point in dying, myself. Seems counterproductive. So I’ve decided not to. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/13 "2013-02-10T21:37:42Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > If its someone your really close to, like a parent, you always wish they had more time… But that’s not the same as feeling that they were “too young.” ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/14 "2013-02-10T21:51:51Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > But that’s not the same as feeling that they were “too young.” I agree. To me, when I think someone was “too young to die” I always think about what might have been, what they could have accomplished if given more time, all that potential they lost. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/15 "2013-02-10T21:58:13Z")
Anyone under 70. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/16 "2013-02-10T22:12:03Z")
I’d say that it’s any death that isn’t death by old age. That usually comes at around 80 or more, so I picked the 70s bracket. But it can vary with the person: If a 103-year-old dies in a freak skydiving accident, they were too young to die. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/17 "2013-02-10T22:45:00Z")
Seems like from the posts here,its relative. Some think only a teenager is too young to die, and others think old age is still too young. I think having a parent who is 76 die feels too young if everyone else in the family lives to be at least 90. In a family where everyone lives to at least 90, a sibling dying in their 70s or 80s seems too young, and there can still be loss of what could have been, …some 80 year olds travel and go skiing and can have alot of rich experiences that are lost out on if they die early (say 76 in a family where most live to 96) ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/18 "2013-02-10T22:47:41Z")
Johnny LA, How do you plan to avoid death? Let me know ASAP so I can jot it down for my own use…🆒 ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/19 "2013-02-10T22:54:04Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > Johnny LA, > > How do you plan to avoid death? Let me know ASAP so I can jot it down for my own use…🆒 He may have a copy of the book “Cure For All Diseases” by Hulda Clark, who passed away recently. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871/20 "2013-02-10T23:27:58Z")
Everyone is immortal until they’re not. 😃 I say anything before 70 too. My dad is 78 and still works full-time in the garden center of Walmart, running circles around the teenagers. If Og forbid that he were to die right now, that would still be way too young _for him_, but I realize he’s an outlier. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-too-young-to-die/649871.md?page=2)