The funeral market - Belgium

The funeral market is the market for funeral arrangements following the death of a person. Funeral services are the main players in the market, in charge of the various procedures. The quality of service and the location of the agency play a crucial role in the choice of families or loved ones. Funeral directors are often small, family-run businesses, although there has been a trend towards concentration or mergers in recent years.We are also seeing a diversification in the activities of undertakers, notably with the rise of funeral expense insurance, to which 15% of Belgians had subscribed by 2018. DELA is one of the main players in this market. The market depends mainly on the country's demographic trends, and Belgium is an ageing country with a growing proportion of people over 65. Over the past ten years, the number of deaths in Belgium has been predicted to rise to around 116,000 by 2022.Practices are also evolving, and cremation is increasingly popular: in 2019, over 60% of Belgians chose this option. A distinction is made between cremation (cremation in a crematorium) and burial (traditional burial in a cemetery). To remain dynamic, market players are renewing and diversifying their offerings: more ecologically responsible or low-costsolutions are emerging. It's also worth noting the growing importance of online communication for the various networks and players in the funeral industry, who are promoting their services via digital channels.