Majority favour cremation, says new poll

The majority of people would rather be cremated and scattered than buried when they die, according to research.

The new YouGov research on attitudes to death found nearly six in ten people (58 percent) want to be cremated when they die – more than three times the 17 percent of people who want to be buried.

Of these people, the vast majority (79 percent) would then like their ashes to be scattered somewhere. Just 7 percent want their ashes to be kept after they’ve been cremated.

Cremation is more preferred as people get older. Whilst four in ten of 18-24 year olds want to be cremated, this figure rises to more than seven in ten people over the age of 65.

Funeral clothing has also been examined with only 22 percent of people now seeing black as a required colour choice. Twice as many (45 percent) think that wearing other colours is ok, so long as they are dark and sombre, whilst another 29 percent think it is ok to wear any colour clothing to a funeral.

Whilst older people might be expected to be the ones most wedded to tradition, they are in fact the most relaxed, with 39 percent saving any colour of clothing is ok at a funeral, against 16 percent of 18-24 year olds who think it is ok.