26 ... the ripe age at which we start to dwell on mortality

PEOPLE in Britain start to contemplate death at the age of 26, a survey has found. Prompted by factors ranging from a relative’s death to terror attacks, it is the age that people begin to spend “countless hours” ruminating over their demise, researchers found.

A survey of 30,000 adults showed that a third think about their own passing at least once a week, with celebrity deaths among common prompts.

David Collingwood, of Co-op Funeralcare, which carried out the survey, said Britons, with an average life expectancy of 81, spend more than half a century dwelling on the subject.

He said: “Our survey shows that while mortality is something we often think about, it’s not something we’re willing to open up and talk about.

“More than 18million people are uncomfortable talking about death [but] many of us feel those conversations...are too difficult to broach or we don’t want to upset people. If we start to talk more openly about death, dying and bereavement now, it’ll remove some of the emotional burden for our loved ones further down the line.”