While the exact numbers are debatable, scientific research using validated psychometric tools—like the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale—has been conducted in broad adult samples and consistently shows that death anxiety varies by age and gender. It tends to be higher in younger adults and shifts across older age groups, suggesting that fear of dying is not confined to illness or old age. It’s measurable across the general population.

As a hospice doctor, I encounter this fear every day—but not always where people expect.

At the bedside, I sit with patients who are actively dying. Outside of work, I field questions from friends, family members, and acquaintances who are very much alive. They ask me how to have a “good death.” More often, they ask how to avoid a bad one. They worry about pain. They worry about prolonged suffering. They worry about fear itself.

What often surprises them is that my answer runs counter to their expectations.

Yes, pain is common at the end of life—but it is also, in most cases, quite treatable. Modern palliative medicine is very good at alleviating physical suffering. Even more surprising to many people is this: Death, in reality, is........

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