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BBC - Why so many celebrities have died in 2016
By Roland Hughes and Laura Gray
"Here in the UK, the Daily Telegraph maintains a gallery of famous people who have died, and updates it throughout the year. Up to this time in 2014, the number of those in the gallery was 38. By this time last year, the number of people in the gallery was 30. This year, the number is already 75.
This all invites the question: why?
There are a few reasons, Nick Serpell says."
"The baby-boom factor
Many of those now dying belonged to the so-called baby-boom generation, born between 1946 and 1964, that saw a huge growth in population. In the US for example, the census bureau said that 76m people in 2014 belonged to the baby boomer generation - some 23% of the population...
Now, those famous former babies, aged between 70 and 52, are dying.
The age-bracket 65 to 69 is the one, in the UK for example, where death rates really start to increase - some 14.2 per 1,000 men in that age bracket died in 2014, compared with 9.4 per 1,000 in the 60 to 64 age bracket.
Among the major deaths this year, many - including Prince (57), Alan Rickman (69), David Bowie (69) and Victoria Wood (62) - were baby-boomers.
"What makes a celebrity?
Another factor that may play into the impression that more celebrities are dying is that we have heard of more celebrities than before.
"Over the past 10 years, social media has played a big part," Nick Serpell says."
"Will this carry on?
The bad news? Yes, probably. "Over the next 10 years, these people will get into their 80s and it is going to continue at this level," Nick Serpell says.
"And that doesn't count the surprise deaths, when people die that shouldn't.""
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