Schedule for death

By Kim Ji-myung

Not because of my age or any health problem, I find myself spending quite a bit of time thinking about death these days. People often "die hard." There are some over-100 seniors around me. They honestly tell that their lives are boring, and too long. Nothing pleases them, they complain. It is like a life-sentenced prisoner waiting for the day of judgment without knowing their verdict.

When young, I used to be an impossibly future-oriented optimist, overflowing with new ideas and fresh plans for improving myself and the world. Once, a senior in my office told me that there must have been no one very close to me who had died, or was dying in a sickbed. He knew that only innocent or ignorant souls could continue to talk about "tomorrow" as if their days would never come to an end.

Now, there are many over-100 grandmas around me ― such as my mother-in-law, a friend's mother and a remote relative ― all women. Half of them stay at hospice facilities for the elderly.

The older population is predominantly female because women tend to live longer than men. The ratio of men-women in the age group of 60 years old is, according to a U.N. report, 85 to 100 while it is 61 to 100 in the age group of 80 years or over.

Without referring to an authoritative report, we all know that population aging is taking place everywhere. The "2013 Aging Population Report" by the United Nations predicts that the global share of older people aged 60 years or over, of 11.7 percent in 2013, will reach 21.1 percent of the total population by 2050.

Experts have recognized the very different conditions that people experience as they grow older depending on their place of living. In developed countries, including Korea, a large proportion of people in their 60s and 70s are still fit and active. They can care for themselves, although they become frail after 75.

Some gerontologists have recognized the diversity of old age by defining sub-groups. One study distinguishes the young-old (60 to 69), the middle-old (70 to 79) and the very-old (80+). Another study's sub-grouping is young-old (65 to 74), middle-old (75–84) and oldest-old (85+). A third sub-grouping is "young-old" (65-74), "old" (74-84) and "old-old" (85+).

The country ranking by percentage of population aged 60 or over (in 2013) places Japan at the top with 32 percent. Next are Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece and Sweden with between 26.9 and 25.2 percent.

China, the United States and Russia have some 19 percent, while Korea stands at 55th place with 16.9 percent. The youngest population-group countries are the United Arab Emirates (0.9 percent) and Qatar (1.9 percent).

Long life itself cannot be the ultimate goal of life. Put simply, enjoying happiness for a longer time, together with loving family members, without suffering from diseases and financial difficulties, could be the proper goal for ordinary people.

According to a recent BBC report, 65 to 79 is the happiest age group for adults, according to research by the Office for National Statistics of the United Kingdom.

The survey of more than 300,000 adults across the U.K. found life satisfaction, happiness and the feeling that life is worthwhile all peaked in that age bracket, but declined in the over-80s, the BBC said.

The lowest levels of life satisfaction were reported by those in the 45-59 age group, which also reported the highest levels of anxiety. A survey of Korean people would probably come up with quite similar results. This is because that age group bears the heaviest burden of having to care for children and elderly parents at the same time.

Do you want to find out which disease will end your life, and after how many years?

Statistician Nathan Yau has created an interactive chart to determine, in his words, "how and when you will die, given your sex, race and age." Fun!

You can try the chart at http://flowingdata.com/2016/01/19/how-you-will-die.

Yau revealed that he used data from the Underlying Cause of Death Database from the Centers for Disease Control of the United States. It is a collection of U.S. death statistics from 1999 to 2014, based on age, race, gender, year and cause of death, etc.

By entering your sex, race and age, the chart will show you how likely you are to die of various common causes of death: infection, cancer, blood, endocrine, mental, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, genitourinary, perinatal, congenital and external causes.

After 80 years of age, more than 40 percent of the causes will be circulatory, such as heart disease, regardless of demographic group.

The creator of this simulation was surprised to see that circulatory problems were a prominent cause of death. "It seems like cancer would be the leading cause, just going off general news," he wrote.

The over-90 age group by far reported the lowest levels of feeling that their lives were worthwhile, even though their reported levels of happiness and life satisfaction were comparable with those in their 20s and 30s.

To understand how people of different ages evaluate their satisfaction could help policymakers create effective policies by focusing on practical issues of our lives.

The writer is the director of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Her email address is heritagekorea21@gmail.com.