Meanwhile in Norway, Cremations are Up 25% in 2022, Compared to 2021

As reported by state broadcaster NRK two weeks ago. A sad story of the decrepit state of things up North…

Here’s the original link; translation and emphases mine.

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Crematoria Shortage in Norway: It Can Take Months for Deceased Father's Urn Burial

There are 26 crematoria in Norway. This is too few, according to the Norwegian Cremation Foundation.

When the story was first published, NRK wrote that it can take months for the deceased to be cremated. This is not true. It can take several months before the deceased’s urn burial takes place. The change was made at 10:15 on Monday 30.01.2023.

The relatives are upset, and may feel that the process of transporting the deceased to Odda in a hearse is not a dignified way of doing this, according to Tor Inge Vormedal, head of ceremonies at humanist funerals [a non-Christian association] in Haugesund.

He tells NRK that it can take several months before the deceased are buried in an urn.

For the relatives, it can feel like a burden when they have to wait so long.

In Haugesund and the surrounding municipalities, cremation must either be carried out at the crematoria in Odda or in Stavanger. Both are a two-hour drive away.

Too Few Crematoria

There are 26 crematoria in Norway. None in Haugesund.

Bjarne Kjeldsen is an adviser in the professional section for church, culture, and education in Fagforbundet [a Norwegian professional association, or union]. He says there are several places where the lack of crematoria is a major problem.

We cannot tolerate a very large increase in the cremation rate until a fairly clear ceiling is reached.

Just over a year ago, the Norwegian Cremation Foundation published the report ‘Cremation Activities in Norway’ [this is the translated title; the report is in Norwegian], written by Kjeldsen. According to the report, there are not enough crematoria in Norway, either in the short or long term.

In large parts of Norway, the capacity is either too poor or the distance to the nearest crematorium is too long, Kjeldsen claims:

When it is already a problem in smaller areas, one can imagine that this will become a problem in medium-populated areas in a short time.

Statistics show that almost half of the people who die in Norway are cremated. This is an urban phenomenon. In Oslo in 2021, three out of four deaths were cremated.

Kjeldsen believes that more people would have chosen cremation if the options had been better:

There may be several reasons why people choose not to choose cremation as a form of burial, even though it was the most natural choice in the first place. [no explanation given]

76% More Cremation Capacity Needed

The ageing population will lead to an increase in the number of deaths per year in the coming decades. In addition, the number of people requesting cremation will rise.

If trends in Norway follow Sweden, Norway will need to be able to handle 50,000 cremations annually in 2060. This is 76% more than the capacity of Norwegian crematoria today.

The increased demand is already felt in Stavanger.

‘We see a big increase. From 2021 to 2022, it was 25%, but the crematorium in Stavanger has good capacity’, says Rune Skagestad, church warden in Stavanger Church Council.

But he too notices that the capacity should be increased. Previously, they received coffins from South Rogaland and Ryfylke. Now they receive from all of Rogaland.

Skagestad calls for a second oven:

Both to meet the need for more cremations, but also that we have regular downtime for maintenance and the like, and then it will be necessary to have a steady cremation in the region.

Plans For a New Crematorium

In Haugesund, church warden Kjetil Nordstrøm has both a vision and concrete plans for a new crematorium:

If I could choose from the top shelf, I would have a crematorium that has space to carry out ceremonies in connection with the cremation. And that it would be possible to go straight from the ceremony to a restaurant area where you could have a memorial service.

The new crematorium will have a price tag of NOK 60 million [c. US$ 6m]. It is not certain that politicians will prioritise this.

A decision will probably be made during the year.

‘The status now is that we are working on a feasibility study, and are trying to draw different alternatives that we want to submit for political consideration. In that way, we get a signal about what the politicians want us to prioritise and work on further’, he says.

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Bottom Lines

‘It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards’, the White Queen told Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, claiming a ‘great advantage…that one’s memory works both ways’.

So, cremations are up 25% in 2022, compared to 2021.

There is an expectation that this trend will continue, but Norway has ‘only’ 26 crematoria with a total annual cremation capacity of 27,950 bodies in 2020; on average, 25% of capacity remained in 2020 (according to that above-linked report, p. 11).

Given the absence of more current data, we’ll have to guesstimate a bit: cremations are up 25% in 2022, hence I’m assuming it’s a fair assessment that whatever spare capacity was there in 2020 is now gone.

It appears that cremations will continue to rise in 2023 and beyond, thus easily exceeding capacities.

At no point in the article is excess mortality—up around 10% in 2022, compared to 2021—mentioned.

Thankfully, I’ve written about it at the end of December: please see here (28 Dec. 2022) and here (29 Dec. 2022).

We’ll soon reach the end of the runway on this one. Why not go back to funeral pyres like the Vikings of yesteryear?