Young Chinese Enter Funeral Work as Population Ages
Wednesday, 2026/09/02219 words3 minutes1038 reads
Young Chinese workers are entering the funeral industry, a field long associated with bad luck and social taboo. CNA reports that specialised courses, a labour shortage, and changing ideas about mourning are widening the appeal of funeral work. Yet demand does not guarantee stable or highly paid work.
China recorded 11.31 million deaths in 2025, its highest number since 1960. With 23 per cent of the population aged 60 and above, demographers expect deaths to rise for decades. Industry estimates cited by CNA put the annual shortage at around 10,000 skilled workers, while only 16 institutions offer funeral-related majors. Students may learn body care, ceremony planning, cemetery design, and grief counselling.
The work is also becoming more personalised. Companies arrange farewell ceremonies around a person's life and help relatives handle practical tasks. Some use recorded voices and life stories to create memorial messages. For employers, empathy and careful work matter as much as technical training, because families are dealing with loss.
The sector is changing under new regulations as well. Rules that took effect in March limit certain funeral charges and new for-profit firms, while personalised services can still be sold at market prices. Young people may see a reliable future in this essential work, but pay, career paths, family attitudes, and regulation can make that future less certain.
