There are several reasons why many choose to return their burial rights, and the development is clear.
- An empty cemetery is not what we want, but we can not stop this development, says Sara Adolfsson, coordinator for sustainable cemetery and land management in Linköping diocese.
Higher safety requirements
She says that one reason why many choose to return their burial rights is that the safety requirements have become greater after the accident in Västra Götaland ten years ago, when a girl was crushed to death under a tombstone that overturned.
After that, all tombstones must be tested every five years.
Some of them must be secured, an extra expense that not all burial rights holders are willing to pay.
- In some cemeteries, where the burial security work has begun, it has been noticed that up to 25 percent of the burial rights have been returned.
New proposal
The cemeteries only save graves that are considered to have great cultural value, the others are removed.
The National Heritage Board is concerned about the development and has therefore come up with a proposal which means that it will be more difficult to remove old graves, that the cemetery administrations will be forced to apply for permission every time a grave is to be removed.
In Åtvidaberg, between 30 and 50 graves disappear every year and only half are replaced with new ones.
Other grave forms, such as memorial groves, have become more popular.
If more returned graves are to be preserved, there will be more graves to take care of, states Tobias Dahlberg who is cemetery manager in Åtvidaberg.
- Someone has to pay, it's so drastic, and we are not allowed to use the funeral fee in that way, he says.