India has a population of over one billion people and more than 25,000 die there every day. That makes funerals big business. Most people are cremated, an extremely important ritual for Hindus, the country's main religion. If not done right, the belief is that a person's soul will be disturbed and end up coming back to haunt close living relatives. Costing on average just $139 (£96), there is no cheaper place on earth to be laid to rest.
Russian funerals cost considerably less than most other European countries, at $328 (£236). That's just 1.3% of the average annual salary, meaning Russians spend less proportionately on funerals than anywhere else in the world. From leaving a glass of vodka out for the deceased to fending off illegal undertakers to holding three wakes spread across 40 days, Russians still put a lot of effort into saying goodbye to loved ones, despite the cheap cost.
While many countries see a funeral as a celebration of life, in Brazil funerals are strictly a place for families to grieve. It's not customary to have any food or drink for guests and expecting so would be seen as a sign of disrespect. Flowers and gifts are also never given, as it would supposedly take attention away from the deceased. With such minimalism, funerals come at a cheaper cost and the average Brazilian spends $497 (£358) on them.
The period of mourning for Colombians is long and very intense, and in times gone by it could go on for up to five years. During that time, black garments would be worn daily and music and entertainment would be strictly off-limits. Such traditions have relaxed in recent years but families still spend months rigorously mourning. Although that period lasts longer than in any other country, Colombians only spend on average $599 (£431) on the actual ceremony.
Polish people traditionally believe that death is a tall, thin woman who wears a white sheet and carries a scythe. When she has a target she can't be stopped but many believe animals can see her and warn people of her presence. Cremation is rarely carried out due to the scattering of ashes still being illegal in Poland. Burial is the preferred method in this predominately Catholic country and it costs on average $681 (£494).
A lack of cemetery space in Mexico's urban areas has led to many families having to dig up their dead. Many of the nine million people that live in Mexico City are being forced to exhume their loved ones once their burial rights expire to make room for new bodies. Around 30,000 people die in the capital alone every year, according to pre-pandemic figures, and with only 71,000 gravesites available, burial places are running out. The average funeral her costs $934 (£673).
Funeral culture in the Czech Republic is vastly different from other countries in Europe. Burying or cremating a body without any fanfare would be unusual to many of us, but in the Czech Republic around 70% of funerals are simple and bare, costing $1,026 (£739). While many people don't hold a proper ceremony, there are still several practices traditionally carried out including covering up every mirror in a house to avoid someone's soul from haunting their reflection.
The average Estonian spends around 3.9% of their annual salary on funerals for their family members, about $1,055 (£762). While religion doesn't play a big part, the country does have numerous age-old traditions that are carried out after death. Family take bodies on long, winding roads so the deceased's spirit can't follow and haunt them. Coins are also placed inside the casket and no tears are allowed to fall into the grave as superstition states that death will then soon come for the crier.
A Danish funeral typically takes place eight days after death and costs around $1,352 (£973). Non-secular ceremonies have risen by 86% since 2006, according to Statistics Denmark, as the general population becomes less closely connected to the Church of Denmark.
Elaborate burials are somewhat of a status symbol in South Africa and its funeral industry has boomed in recent years. While $1,736 (£1,250) may not seem like a lot, it's actually just over 13% of the average national wage there - more than twice the global average. In a nation where around a third of the working-age population is unemployed, the cost of saying goodbye to a loved one can often cripple families already living on the breadline.
Italians spend around $2,357 (£1,697) on funerals, which is equivalent to around 6% of their annual salary. Cremation isn't popular in the country because the Catholic Church states that its followers should be buried. Funerals are a sombre affair and widows used to dress in black for upwards of a year to mourn the loss of their husbands.
Sweden is one of the most secular countries in the world. It also has the highest number of people who live alone. As a result, the number of people being cremated without a ceremony has risen to over 10% in recent years. For those that do want to say goodbye to a loved one, the average Swede spends around $3,237 (£2,331) on a ceremony.
Family is an important part of Portuguese culture so funerals tend to be large affairs. With around 80% of the country being Catholic, most funerals are religious. Such ceremonies can be costly with the average person spending 11.8% of their annual salary on funerals, which is an average of $3,302 (£2,385).
The most prestigious place to be buried in Norway used to be under a church. This was outlawed in 1805 after poorer families began burying their dead at night on the fringes of churchyards. Most Norwegians are buried within officially approved cemeteries and those who are cremated must be buried in urns within six months of their death. The average Norwegian spends $3,341 (£2,407) saying goodbye to their loved ones, which is around 5.7% of their annual salary.
Unlike many other countries around the world, cremation remains an unpopular choice in Spain. Instead, families rent graves for long periods of time that tend to house entire generations. The funeral process, which costs an average of $3,713 (£2,675), is also very quick with most burials taking place just 24 hours after death.
In the past, Viennese funerals were elaborate affairs with grand caskets and long processions of mourners. In the 19th century, people paid sky-high prices to make sure their communities would remember them. However, funerals are far more understated nowadays and end up costing around $3,962 (£2,846) – roughly 7% of the country's average annual salary.
Canadians focus on the celebration of life after death and green burials are also popular in this eco-conscious country. These allow people to be buried in biodegradable boxes or urns that encourage plant or tree re-growth. Canadian funerals cost an average of $4,124 (£2,970), with residents spending around 7.8% of their annual salary on them.
The average funeral in Australia costs $4,317 (£3,110), which is around 8% of the average annual salary. Due to the high cost of burial plots, two-thirds of Australians pick cremation when planning their own funeral. It's not a new phenomenon, however. In 1969, remains found in New South Wales, dating back 68,000 years, provided the world's oldest evidence of cremation.
The average cost of a funeral in Finland is $4,405 (£3,173). Traditionally, Finnish families would bury their dead in wooden boxes. Now, around 85% of people are cremated due to a lack of burial space in cities such as Helsinki. For those that do decide to have a traditional burial, families can rent cemetery spots for 25 years at a time.
The funeral business in France is currently worth more than $2.78 billion (£2bn), double the size it was just two decades ago. More than 600,000 people a year die in France and it's one of the only countries in the world where the average cost of cremation is now higher than a burial. Citizens spend on average $4,916 (£3,541) on funeral costs, which is around 10.1% of the country's average annual salary.
Belgians spend on average 9.1% of their annual salary on funerals, around $5,026 (£3,621). They also tend to be religious as 65% of the population is Christian. But one of the more unusual traditions is that, while it's common for bunches of flowers to be given as gifts to a grieving family, mourners must make sure to never give 13 blooms, as that would be bad luck.
The cost of funerals in New Zealand has risen rapidly in the last few years and can cost up to $15,000 (£10,806) per person. Burial plot space is very expensive and there is often a "digging fee" too. The average cost of funerals equates to 12.2% of a New Zealander's annual salary, at about $5,435 (£3,915).
In China, most funeral expenses go towards a grave, which accounts for almost 90% of the total cost. The Kunming Jinlong Ruyi Park Cemetery faced a fierce backlash when it announced plans to offer 10-year mortgages to cover the cost of graves. Almost 11 million people die in China every year and the average resident spends $5,891 (£4,244) on saying goodbye. This is the equivalent of almost half of the average annual salary.
According to life insurance provider SunLife, the price of the average UK funeral has more than doubled since 2004 when a basic funeral would have cost around $2,547 (£1,835). Now, Brits are spending on average $6,131 (£4,417), which is around 12.6% of the average annual salary.
Because funerals are expensive in the Netherlands, just over 60% of Dutch households have insurance specifically designed to cover the cost. Graves are rented for 10 or 20 years at a time and if your family can't afford to pay after that, remains are moved to a mass grave. Families will spend around $7,532 (£5,440) on a funeral, which is equal to almost 13% of the average annual salary.
There are around 2.4 million funerals in the US every year. Traditional burial remains the most popular method but the cost can increase if a state requires a cement vault for bodies. There's a surprising lack of competition in the industry and Service Corporation International made more than $3 billion (£2.16bn) in revenue in 2018 alone. The average American spends $8,132 (£5,858) on funerals, which is the equivalent of 12.1% of their annual salary.
Germans have learned to get creative when it comes to avoiding expensive funerals. One increasingly popular way to save money is to donate the body to science. It's become so popular in fact that some institutes are forced to turn away corpses. A more traditional goodbye will cost the average person $8,670 (£6,246).
The most expensive place in the world for funerals is Japan where it costs an average $30,970 (£22,230) per person. This is 68.3% of the average annual salary. Every year about 1.1 million Japanese people die and the goodbye process has three important steps: the wake, the ceremony itself, and the cremation. One of the reasons that funerals are so costly is because, while traditionally tasks were carried out by members of the dead person's local community, now they're outsourced to pricey third-party vendors.
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