There is not a week that goes by without an article in the media on the lack of burial space. It is a worldwide crisis.
The Planet’s population is growing faster than we can find cemetery space . Our need for a place to call home even after death is not sustainable. Let’s look at the World’s exponential population growth: The Graph’s curve has gone almost vertical. We have gone from 1 Billion people in 1850 to 2 Billion in 1950, currently siting at 7.6 Billion and expecting 9 Billion by 2050.
Watching the World PopulationClock is a sobering experience! (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/) Let’s have some more fun and look at Australia’s population:
It is currently sitting just under 24 Million. With an average death rate of 0.65 % according to the Bureau of Statistics, this represents 156,000 deaths a year.
Using a conservative figure of 60% cremation as a national average, this means 62,400 burials each year. Let’s take a bit off for SA and WA who “recycle” their graves in some way.
What is left amounts to 15Ha of land/year used for the burial of our dead. Imagine 9 MCGs or a half of the Sydney or Melbourne’s Royal Botanical Gardens every year, locked in for burial use only.
Apply the population forecast and, in 2050, we will need 30% more each year. Australia is a “young” country with no talk of curbing its population growth. To the contrary, our population is expected to double by 2075 (www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/) If nothing changes, the Dead will continue to take up more and more space otherwise useable for the Living.
WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT? We have been looking for band-aid solutions to take us over the next decades: smaller graves, more efficient layouts, double and triple graves, grave re-use, vertical burial, high-rises and tunnels etc…
We need to acknowledge the Elephant in the Room.
