BRAZIL-DEATH/OBESITY Increase in Brazil's obesity rate offers big business in cemetery sector

Record ID: 145837

  • Title: BRAZIL-DEATH/OBESITY Increase in Brazil's obesity rate offers big business in cemetery sector
  • Date: 29th July 2015
  • Summary: VALENCA, RIO DE JANEIRO STATE, BRAZIL (JULY 27, 2015) (REUTERS) WORKERS CONSTRUCTING COFFINS COFFINS AND COFFIN LIDS STANDING UP IN WORKSHOP CLOSE-UP OF A WORKER NAILING HANDLES ONTO A COFFIN GENERAL OF WORKER NAILING HANDLES TO A COFFIN CLOSE-UP OF WORKER'S FACE WORKER LINING THE INSIDE OF A COFFIN (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) OWNER OF THE VALE VERDE COFFIN MAKERS, ALFREDO AG
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADW9ZSZPU0DIBQ04RFMS4W2321
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Brazil may be known the world over for hot, sun-kissed beach bods and exotic women in skimpy bikinis, but more and more Brazilians are tilting the scales as the number of residents in the South American country who are overweight or obese soars.
    But it's not just waistlines that are growing; inevitably, coffins and cemetery plots have also had to keep up with the ballooning population.
    The Brazilian Ministry of Health says over the last decade the number of overweight Brazilians has climbed 23 percent while the number of obese Brazilians has doubled in that same time.
    (According to the World Health Organisation, anyone with a Body Mass Index [kg/m2] of 25 is overweight, 30 is obese.)
    As Brazilian waistlines as expand, so too has the market for jumbo-sized coffins and burial plots.
    Alfredo Agostinho, the owner of Vale Verde coffin makers in the city of Valenca in Rio de Janeiro state, told Reuters his company has seen in increase in demand for larger coffins as family members look for speciality caskets for their heavier loved ones.
    The coffins can be made deeper, wider and longer to accommodate all kinds of body types.
    "Additionally, as far as its (jumbo coffins) size in weight, it is practically double the normal weight," Agostinho said.
    "When someone larger, someone who weighs a bit more, you have to use these large coffins, extra-large, super extra-large coffins," he added.
    But these "jumbo" coffins also need equally large cemetery plots to be buried in.
    The Penitencia Cemetery in the city of Rio de Janeiro has invested in creating plots to accommodate larger caskets as it looks to be a leader in providing plots for Brazil's overweight and obese population.
    The cemetery says people weighing up to 350 kilograms (770 pounds) can be buried in its specially designed double-wide plots.
    The curator at Penitencia, Alberto Brenner, said the burial plots here have grown in order to meet the needs of larger people.
    The plots measure 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) long, 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) wide and have 2.7 additional square meters (29 square feet) than conventional plots.
    "We've been following the surveys the ministry of health has been doing and one of the surveys showed that in the last nine years there's been a 23 percent rise in people who are overweight in the country. And in this same time period, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of people who are obese in the country. The cemetery also paid attention to this situation so that we would be ready when this happened. Because we want to give a better service to the families. So we looked to offer these (coffins) so that your family member, the person looking for their loved one can find a dignified place for you," Brenner said.
    The cemetery, which first opened in 1875, is investing $55 million reais ($16.5 million dollars) in its expansion, with a large part of that designated for jumbo-sized burial plots.
    Of course, larger caskets and burial sites also come with larger price tags, though prices for both widely vary on several factors including materials used and burial locations.
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