Brits’ plans to live on after their death uncovered in survey
From turning themselves into jewelry, artwork or donating their bodies to science these are the top things people consider for their remains after death
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Your support makes all the difference.Brits are making sure they live on after their death - research of 2,000 adults revealed 29 per cent would consider cremation, with their ashes then scattered in a natural setting.
While 24 per cent would think about having their organs and tissue donated so they could ‘live on’ through others.
More than one in 10 (11 per cent) would be happy for their entire body to be donated to science, while others like the idea of their ashes being formed into a diamond (seven per cent) or being inked into a loved one’s tattoo (four per cent).
But it also emerged a zombie was the worst thing Brits feel they could come back as after they die, with 38 per cent naming this as their least favourite option.
The research was commissioned to launch the video game Dead Island 2, which has teamed up with insurance company DeadHappy to give people the opportunity to take out a Deathwish, which will ensure there are “no un-wanted comebacks” in the event of a zombie apocalypse.
Simon Turner, a spokesperson from game creators PLAION UK, said: “Thinking about what you want to happen once you pass on isn’t easy for most.
“However, we’re pretty sure most people would agree they wouldn’t love to come back as a zombie – hell bent on feasting on the flesh of their former loved ones.
“There’s no harm in being prepared for the unexpected – and taking out a Deathwish for this unlikely event could pay dividends.”
After zombies, spiders were the least popular after-life option for 34 per cent, along with a vampire (31 per cent) or pigeon (30 per cent).
Other things people wouldn’t want to return as include a seagull (28 per cent) or a ghost (24 per cent).
But it also emerged 23 per cent of adults have never given any thought to their own end-of-life arrangements.
While 47 per cent believe that in the future, traditional cremations and burials will be a thing of the past, as people get more creative with what they want to happen to their bodies.
The study, commissioned via OnePoll, also found that when it comes to a zombie apocalypse, 18 per cent consider themselves at least somewhat prepared for one.
Although only nine per cent are “very confident” they’d survive such a scenario, with 32 per cent “very unconfident” they’d last.
Top 25 things Brits would consider for their remains after death:
- Be cremated and have your ashes scattered somewhere in nature
- Donate your organs and tissue
- Be buried under a tree
- Traditional burial underground in a wooden coffin
- Donate your entire body to science
- Be transformed into healthy soil and used for conservation
- Buried underground in a bio-degradable coffin
- Be cremated and have your ashes turned into a diamond
- Be cremated and have your ashes turned into other jewellery
- Be given a ‘Viking Funeral’ (Have your body sent out into a body of water on a boat and then set on fire with a flaming arrow)
- Be cremated and have your ashes turned into a firework
- Be cremated and have your ashes to be buried in coral reef in the ocean
- Donate your body to an outdoor forensic anthropology lab where scientists can study human decomposition
- Be cremated and have your ashes scattered on the ground of your favourite football team
- Be cremated and have your ashes shot into space
- Be cremated and have your ashes used to make a decorative paperweight or glass sculpture
- Buried, but not in any kind of container
- Buried at sea
- Be plastinated (a form of preservation) for anatomical education
- Be cremated and have your ashes mixed into ink so a loved one could use it in a tattoo
- Be fed to the birds, as per the Tibetan ritual of ‘Sky Burial’
- Buried inside a gothic-style crypt outdoors
- Be cremated and have your ashes pressed into a vinyl record
- Be cremated and mixed into paint to create art or a portrait
- Buried indoors in a mausoleum
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