X-Message-Number: 14351 Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 10:33:01 -0400 From: "Raphael T. Haftka" <> Subject: slump in the death industry Number of deaths per year stabilizes at 2.3 million. I have just come back from vacation, and I am catching up on reading the Economist. In case this was not posted before, they had an article a couple of weeks ago about a slump in funeral home business. Apparently, the number of deaths in the US has been rising at 1% per year, but it has leveled off at 2.3 millions in the past year or two. Even 1% per year is encouraging because that is approximately the rate of growth of the population, and a constant death rate with an aging population is a good sign. I am hoping to see substantial gain in life expectancy as a result. I believe that accelerating life expectancy is the phenomenon that will make the public pay attention to cryonics. Raphael (Rafi) Haftka, Distinguished Professor University of Florida phone:352-392-9595 Department of Aerospace Engineering, fax: -7303 Mechanics and Engineering Science http://www.aero.ufl.edu/~haftka Gainesville, FL 32611 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14351