The death care industry provides an essential service to individuals and families dealing with, or preparing for, death and bereavement. This includes the collection and transfer of the deceased, mortuary services, arranging and conducting a funeral, cremation, burial and memorialisation.

Demand for death care services is expected to grow in both countries because of increasing death volumes due to population growth and ageing of the “baby boomers”.

The charts below illustrate the actual number of annual deaths since 1990 and the forecast number of annual deaths to 2050 in Australia and New Zealand:

Australian projected deaths chart
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
New Zealand projected deaths chart
Source: Stats NZ