Satellites in very low orbits are still in the thinnest parts of the upper atmosphere. It is so thin that it seems to be a perfect vacuum, but there is still enough gas to make a small drag force on the satellite, so it eventually slows down enough to fall out of orbit. The higher the initial orbit, the less drag and the longer it takes to slow down. Geostationary satellites are so high that they never come down, they just get old, batteries die, thruster fuel runs out so they can't maintain station or pointing angle for their antenna, and they just stop operating. But they stay in orbit, inoperative.
Satellites fall all over the world, but if the operator knows they are about to loose control of a satellite, due to it having lost too much speed or some mechanical problem that is getting worse, they will deliberately steer it to a reentry that results in falling in the middle of the ocean to avoid harming people on the ground.
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