Cremation, feminization, recycling… Funeral services are undergoing a revolution


Funerals are no longer popular, according to a study by Roc Eclerc relayed by BFMTV. At the same time, municipalities are recycling tombstones.





By The Point.fr

By 2045, cremation would be chosen in three out of four cases, according to Roc Eclerc.
© RICCARDO MILANI / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP

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Lhe funeral business is not sleeping. According to a report drawn up by the specialist Roc Eclerc, the funeral sector has changed profoundly in recent years, report our colleagues from BFMTV. As a result, professionals are forced to change their practices. Thus, over the last four decades, the use of cremation has jumped, rising from 1% of funerals in 1980 to 40% in 2021. In its report, Roc Eclerc mentions several reasons: “declining religious fact”, “easing of denominational prohibitions” and “connection with nature”.

At the same time, a much more cynical argument is that of the budget. Indeed, a cremation costs less than a traditional burial. This trend could, however, be curbed in the coming months. And for good reason: the price of gas has been rising for several weeks and specialists in the sector foresee an increase in their prices of around 35% by the spring of 2023. Roc Eclerc estimates, according to its projections, that the use of cremation could affect up to three out of four burials in 2045.

No more “undertaker”, “the funeral attracts more and more people”, assures the report of Roc Eclerc. Thus, in 2021, the number of people recruited on permanent contracts increased by 30% compared to the pre-pandemic situation, rising from 1,624 to 2,119 contracts signed over twelve months. “Funeral support professions are now fully valued by diploma courses”, insists Roc Eclerc. This boom in vocations is also linked to another phenomenon. ” Reality [du secteur] corresponds less and less to the stereotypes with which it is associated, ”we judge. Last fundamental trend, the arrival in force of women in the funeral. While only 20% of employees were women in 2005, they now represent 34% of the payroll.

READ ALSOComposting the dead: humusation, funerary practice of the future?

Recycle a tombstone? It is now possible

The revolution does not only concern the actors of the funeral and the mode of burial. While the cost of a funeral is often synonymous with headaches for families facing funerals, some municipalities have found a solution. In Brest, the municipality recycles funerary monuments from concessions that have expired or have not been renewed by relatives (perpetual concessions no longer exist).

Once renovated, the monuments are then resold to interested families at bargain prices. “Anyone can benefit from this device (…), depending on their family quotient”, explains Laurent Malyquevique, curator of Brest cemeteries, to our colleagues from the Parisian. While prices fluctuate between 3,000 and 6,000 for new items, monuments resold by the municipality are between 150 and 600 euros.

To avoid shocking the relatives of the deceased whose tombstone is reused, the practice is still very supervised by the State. Thus, a government circular requires that this be done “within the limits of the respect due to the dead and to the graves”. In short: this practice must not become a lucrative activity for a municipality or a private actor.

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