wfn.org | Lifestyle, social changes help drive increase in cremations

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 15, 1999   News media contact: Linda Green·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.     10-21-30-71B{612}

NOTE:  This report is a sidebar to UMNS story #611.

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- More than one out of five Americans opts for
cremation as a means of disposing of their bodily remains, and that amount
is expected to rise to nearly a third of the population by the year 2010,
according to industry projections.

"Changes in our society and lifestyle probably are the most significant
factors in the increase in the rate of cremation," said Kelly Smith, public
relations manager for the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) in
Brookfield, Wis. More and more families are looking for more individualized
and personalized services, and many of them are choosing cremation, he said.

"If there is a death in that family, it is a significantly different
circumstance than 50 years ago, when we had more clearly defined religious,
ethnic, and cultural customs and traditions," Smith said. Today, it is the
family rather than the church or cultural customs that determines the
funeral service. Often, when families are scattered across the country,
cremation becomes the choice for disposing of a loved one, he noted.
  
"It makes no sense to ship grandma or grandpa back home when there is no
longer anyone there that they know," Smith said. "To some families, it makes
more sense for cremation, and each member of the family may have a portion
of the cremated remains with them rather than burial in a cemetery that may
be thousands of miles away."  

Cremation is the second most common form of disposition in the United
States, according to the NFDA. The association said the percentage of
cremation to death in the United States and Canada has increased steadily in
recent decades. In the 1960s, about 3 to 4 percent of all deaths were
disposed by cremation. Today, the amount is 23 to 24 percent. 

Similarly, the Chicago-based Cremation Association of North America (CANA)
projects that by the year 2010, the level of cremation in the United States
will be 32.5 percent, with the practice more common in urban areas than
rural. In other countries, such as England and Japan, cremation is the most
common form of disposition.

CANA cited several factors for the trend in the United States: people are
dying at older ages (male 73.3 years, female 79.6 years); migration to
retirement locations is increasing; regional differences are diminishing;
origins of immigrants are changing; education level is rising; and
environmental considerations carry more weight than before.

Cremation is the major choice of older people, according to Jack Springer,
executive director of CANA. "Older people say they accept cremation because
the body is worn out and age has destroyed it."

Older adults also are less concerned with giving people a "final memory
picture," said the Rev. Hoyt Hickman, former executive with the United
Methodist Board of Discipleship in Nashville, and a primary designer of the
denomination's funeral services. 

Hickman's family has practiced cremation for more than 50 years. One reason
is that cremation enables many more people to be buried in the family plot,
he said. "My daughter was cremated and buried in a plot where four
generations are buried."

The practice is rising faster in the West than the East. Springer explains
that the West has a high percentage of first and second generations of
people who are less bound by tradition.

The Duncanville, Texas,-based Cremation Society of North America suggests
that Hawaii, Alaska and Nevada probably experience a 50 percent cremation
rate among deaths statewide, while Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, West
Virginia and Tennessee probably have a 4 to 7 percent cremation rate. In
some parts of the country, the practice is chosen for more than a third of
all deaths.  

The estimates are confirmed by CANA, which listed in 1997 the top 10 states
by number of cremations. Those were California, Florida, New York,
Pennsylvania, Washington, Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Arizona.

Demographic differences

In its 1996-97 survey, CANA examined the race and ethnicity of people
choosing the practice in the United States and Canada. The group found that
of those cremated during the survey period, 88 percent were whites, 6
percent were African Americans, 3 percent were Asians and 3 percent were
Hispanics. 

Atkins Funeral Home, an African-American establishment in Nashville, gets
three to four requests for cremations per year, said funeral home director
Bill Taylor. About 1 percent of the cremations in the United States are for
African Americans, he said.

Historically, blacks have viewed cremation negatively. "Our culture,
religion and social status create a fear of this method of a funeral,"
Taylor said.

However, in the last 10 years, African Americans have realized that
cremation is just as effective as any form for a funeral, he said. "We are
choosing cremation because it is more affordable, and there is no longer a
stigma on having a big funeral or putting the loved one away in a nice
casket," he said.

Taylor believes that cremation was practiced in Africa but was lost during
slavery. "A lot of our culture was lost as African Americans created our own
culture and adopted the practices of whites." 

The cost factor

Often, cost is a factor in choosing cremation over traditional burial.

The average funeral costs $4,800 based on nine selected service items and an
18-gauge metal casket, according to NFDA. A study by the American
Association of Retired Persons stated that the average burial cost is about
$2,200. When the figures are combined, the average cost is about $7,000,
Smith said.

In contrast, the average cost for direct cremation ranges from $1,100 to
$1,300, depending on who provides the container, according to NFDA. Direct
cremation involves picking up the remains, going through the identification
process, placing them in a container (cardboard box) and placing the remains
in a crematorium. No memorial or funeral service is included. Alternatives
range from cremation with a simple memorial service to a funeral with
visitation.

However, Smith cautioned against assuming that cremation with services is
always cheaper than earth burial with services. For example, he said that if
a family chooses a visitation with embalming and a funeral service on the
following day with cremation, then the cremation and services may be more
expensive than if the family had chosen earth burial with a cloth-covered
casket, visitation and services on the same day.

The final cost, he said, depends on the options chosen by the family. 
# # #
*Green is news director of the Nashville, Tenn.,-based office of United
Methodist News Service.

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United Methodist News Service
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