The Different Ways Cultures Around the World Handle Bodies After Death

A TED-Ed lesson by Farnaz Khatibi Jafari explains some of the ways dead bodies are handled by different cultures around the world. The lesson also covers the question of when the world will run out of burial space, which could happen in places like London in the very near future.

Since the dawn of humanity, an estimated 100.8 billion people have lived and died, a number that increases by about 0.8% of the world’s population each year. What happens to all of those peoples’ bodies after they die? And will the planet eventually run out of burial space? Farnaz Khatibi Jafari traces the evolution of how humanity has treated bodies and burials.