Avicus Archive

Where are all the cemeteries? by SnowSX3 June 30, 2016 at 9:06 AM UTC

So I asked this on my snapchat (shameless plug: SnowSX3)
and realised it'll be interesting to try and spark some sort of discussion out of this.

So, 2.5 million people in the US die every year. 
That's a ton of people..that's over half the population on New Zealand.. In a year! Just in America!

I know that cremation is a bit popular these days and people donate their bodies to science but that still leaves let's say 1 million people.

1 million bodies that need to be put into the ground...each year.

So my question is, where are all the cemeteries? 
Shouldn't there be a ton of them everywhere?

Where do all these people go?

joelous June 30, 2016 at 9:06 AM UTC

A lot of families wish for their bodies to be cremated when they pass away, and it's fairly popular. Cemetries can also hold a lot of people, so it's not surprising they can bury so many people in small spaces.

EDIT: murders can also count for most of the death counts. Their bodies may not even be found.

Javipepe June 30, 2016 at 10:06 AM UTC

A lot of families wish for their bodies to be cremated when they pass away, and it's fairly popular. Cemetries can also hold a lot of people, so it's not surprising they can bury so many people in small spaces.

EDIT: murders can also count for most of the death counts. Their bodies may not even be found.
If the body isn't found it isn't really safe to assume death, unless a lot of time has passed and there are no chances of the person still alive. That's the reason missing people counts aren't included in the death counts in most places in the world, And still there are not that many murders (and let alone missing corpse ones)  as for to really influx the general idea of this thread.

The normal average body surface area of a person in square meters rounds 1.7. Even though I believe cremation and body-for-science counts are higher - and raising - let's do the math with 1M.  To bury 1 million average people we'd need (1.7*1000000=) 1700000 square meters. The surface of the states is 9,826,675 km2  which is 9,826e+12 = 9826675000000 square meters. In the USA there are approximately over 22,000 operative cemeteries (source: Cemeteries of the U.S.: A Guide to Contact Information for U.S. Active Operative Cemeteries. First Edition. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 2008.). If each cementery was (1700000/22000=) 77.27 square meters we would be able to fit everybody. For reference, an average flat in Spain spans for 120 square meters, so yeah.

I guess this is the typical thing that shocks a bit at the very start but then when you look into it it isn't that surprising!

Crimson_Aught June 30, 2016 at 11:06 AM UTC

Look at this and be shocked :D http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

ImNotYourTiger June 30, 2016 at 7:06 PM UTC

There are a bunch everywhere. And these cemeteries aren't small, they're huge. Plus people have different beliefs. Some bodies may not even be buried. Plus, like Horizin said, if someone is murdered their body may not be found.

DaFrozenBlaze June 30, 2016 at 7:06 PM UTC

It's cremation most of the time in my country, no space on a small island

JUBBINATOR July 1, 2016 at 4:07 AM UTC

IDK about other places, but because bodies decompose and stuff about 4 generations worth of my family have been buried in the same grave plot back in our village in india (Am Christian, so we do bury ppls)

MerlinMaster July 1, 2016 at 5:07 AM UTC

They all floated into the Gulf of Mexico after hurricane Katrina.

smitdalt July 1, 2016 at 5:07 AM UTC

They all floated into the Gulf of Mexico after hurricane Katrina.
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