It's so high because we eradicated so many other things that used to kill us off early. Looking at the leading causes of death in the UK[1] they're: dementia,

It's so high because we eradicated so many other things that used to kill us off early. Looking at the leading causes of death in the UK[1] they're: dementia, heart disease, strokes, lung cancer, flu. If you lowered any of those then the rates of the others would go up. [1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregistrationsummarytables/2023#leading-causes-of-death https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde...