List of countries by cremation rate
This article is a list of countries by cremation rate. Cremation rates vary widely across the world with some countries like Japan having a rate over 95% while other countries like Italy and Poland having less than 10%. Factors include culture and religion; for example, the cremation rate in Muslim, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic majority countries is much lower due to religious sanctions on cremation.
Asia
India
Almost everyone adhering to Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism cremate their dead making India one of the countries with highest rate of cremation. Rate of cremation is around 85%.
China
China cremates more people each year than any other country, reporting 4,534,000 cremations out of 9,348,453 deaths (a 48.50% rate) in 2008.[1] The cremation rate was 45.6% for 2014 according to Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.[2]
Japan
Japan has one of the highest cremation rates in the world with the country reporting a cremation rate of 99.85% in 2008.[1]
Taiwan
According to information from Ministry of Interior, there are 92.47％ in 2013 with 144,162 deaths of all 155,908 deaths. [3]
Europe
United Kingdom
The cremation rate in the United Kingdom has been increasing steadily with the national average rate rising from 34.70% in 1960 to 73.44% in 2008.[4]
Scandinavia
Cremation rates in the Nordic countries vary from Finland's and Norway's 36% to Sweden's 70% and Denmark's 76%. Cremation is most common in the older larger cities, which are running out of cemetery plots, and rarest in the countryside and small towns where burial places are readily available. In all countries the cremation rate in large towns is generally between 70% and 90%.
France
Cremation remains a minority practice in rural France where burial places are available, but is increasingly common in urban areas. In 1979 just 1% of funerals involved cremation: in 2012 it was 32%, rising to 45% in Paris.[5]
Ireland
The Republic of Ireland has one of the lowest rates of cremation in the world, at just 6%.[6] Cremation has a long and complicated history in Ireland, only being introduced very recently.
North America
Canada
The cremation rate in Canada has been increasing steadily with the national average rate rising from 5.89% in 1970 to 68.4% in 2009.[7][8] The rates vary greatly among the provinces with the most recent (1999) province level statistics showing that British Columbia had the highest rate at 74% while Prince Edward Island had the lowest rate at 8.5%.[9]
The projected Canadian rates for 2010:
| No | Jurisdiction | Rate (%)[10] |
|---|---|---|
| - | Canada | 65%+ |
| 1 | British Columbia | 77% |
| 2 | Alberta | 65% |
| 2 | Ontario | 65% |
| 2 | Nova Scotia | 65% |
| 2 | Yukon Territories | 65% |
| 3 | Manitoba | 63.1% |
| 4 | Saskatchewan | 56.6% |
| 5 | Prince Edward Island | 43.2% |
| 6 | Quebec | 42.5% |
| 7 | New Brunswick | 33.3% |
| 8 | Newfoundland | N/A |
| 8 | Northwest Territories | N/A |
| 8 | Nunavut | N/A |
United States
The cremation rate in the United States has been increasing steadily with the national average rate rising from 3.56% in 1960 to 40.62% in 2010 and projections from the Cremation Association of North America forecasting a rate of 44.42% in 2015 and 55.65% in 2025.[11][12] The rates vary considerably among the states with the highest rates (over 60%) being reported in the Western United States with the lowest rates (under 25%) being reported in the Southern United States.[13]
The following table lists the 2006 cremation rate for each state including the national average.
| No | Jurisdiction | Rate (%)[14] |
|---|---|---|
| - | United States | 33.52% |
| 1 | Nevada | 68.41% |
| 2 | Washington | 67.57% |
| 3 | Hawaii | 65.60% |
| 4 | Oregon | 65.25% |
| 5 | Arizona | 59.66% |
| 6 | Montana | 59.40% |
| 7 | Colorado | 57.83% |
| 8 | Maine | 55.61% |
| 9 | Alaska | 55.04% |
| 10 | Vermont | 54.26% |
| 11 | New Hampshire | 53.94% |
| 12 | Florida | 51.78% |
| 13 | California | 50.50% |
| 14 | Wyoming | 49.63% |
| 15 | Idaho | 48.26% |
| 16 | New Mexico | 47.02% |
| 17 | Minnesota | 40.46% |
| 18 | Michigan | 38.62% |
| 19 | District of Columbia (capital, not state) | 38.26% |
| 20 | Connecticut | 37.22% |
| 21 | Delaware | 33.06% |
| 22 | Rhode Island | 31.77% |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 31.53% |
| 24 | Massachusetts | 31.15% |
| 25 | Illinois | 29.56% |
| 26 | Pennsylvania | 29.09% |
| 27 | Nebraska | 28.30% |
| 28 | Maryland | 28.22% |
| 29 | Kansas | 27.91% |
| 30 | New Jersey | 27.76% |
| 31 | New York | 27.72% |
| 32 | Virginia | 27.22% |
| 33 | North Carolina | 25.10% |
| 34 | Missouri | 24.83% |
| 35 | Ohio | 24.77% |
| 36 | Texas | 23.76% |
| 37 | Iowa | 23.33% |
| 38 | Utah | 22.77% |
| 39 | Oklahoma | 22.72% |
| 40 | Georgia | 22.10% |
| 41 | South Carolina | 21.94% |
| 42 | Indiana | 21.88% |
| 43 | South Dakota | 20.79% |
| 44 | Arkansas | 20.36% |
| 45 | North Dakota | 19.26% |
| 46 | West Virginia | 16.56% |
| 47 | Louisiana | 16.18% |
| 48 | Tennessee | 15.99% |
| 49 | Kentucky | 12.32% |
| 50 | Alabama | 11.05% |
| 51 | Mississippi | 9.56% |
Oceania
Australia
The cremation rate in Australia is similar to other English speaking countries like Canada. Records show that slightly over 65% of all deaths were cremated in 2008.[1]
New Zealand
New Zealand's rate is slightly higher than Australia's, with 70% of all deaths being cremations in 2008.[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 "International Cremation Statistics 2008". The Cremation Society of Great Britain. 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
- ↑ "Of the 9.77 million Chinese who died in 2014, 4.46 million, or 45.6 percent, were cremated, the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA)".
- ↑
- ↑ "National Cremation Statistics 1960-2009". The Cremation Society of Great Britain. 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
- ↑ "Le succès de la crémation en France". Le Point (in French). 2012-10-31. Retrieved 2014-09-24.
- ↑ http://science.howstuffworks.com/cremation5.htm
- ↑ Cremation Association of North America (2003-10-06). "Historical Cremation Data - United States vs. Canada" (PDF). Cremationinfo.com. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
- ↑ "Trends and Statistics". National Funeral Directors Association. 2010. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
- ↑ Cremation Association of North America (2003-08-25). "Canadian Cremation Figures" (PDF). Cremationinfo.com. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
- ↑ http://www.cremationinfo.com/cremationinfo/PDF/WebCanCremFigures.pdf
- ↑ "Trends and Statistics". National Funeral Directors Association. 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
- ↑ "Industry Statistical Information". Cremation Association of North America. 2010. Retrieved 2012-04-22.
- ↑ "U.S. Cremation Statistics". National Funderal Directors Association. 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
- ↑ Lucas, Elizabeth (2010-03-10). "State-by-state cremation rates in U.S.". Scrippsnews. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
External links
- http://www.int-crem-fed.org/ - International Cremation Federation Official webpage
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