Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Problem:General Funeral Service Facts 
  
 Median Cost of an Adult Funeral 
  
 Rates of Cremation and Burial 
  
 Data Sources 
  
  
  
 Members of the Media: If you have questions about the statistics below, would like additional information or data, or would like to interview an expert, please contact NFDA's Public Relations team. 
  
 General Funeral Service Facts 
  
 According to the National Directory of Morticians Redbook, the number of funeral homes in the U.S. is: 
  
 2015: 19,391 
  
 2014: 19,486 
  
 2013: 19,624 
  
 2012: 19,680 
  
 2011: 19,841 
  
 2010: 19,902 
  
 2009: 20,557 
  
 2008: 20,915 
  
 2007: 21,080 
  
 2006: 21,088 
  
 2005: 21,495 
  
 2004: 21,528 
  
  
  
 Approximately 86% of funeral homes in the United States are privately owned by families or individuals. The remaining 14% are owned by publicly-traded corporations. (Service Corporation International (SCI) owns approximately 12% and Carriage Services Inc. and StoneMor Partners own approximately 1% each.)2 
  
 98% of NFDA-member funeral homes are owned by individuals, families, or closely held private corporations. 
  
  
  
 The average NFDA-member funeral home handles 113 calls per year and has three full-time and four part-time employees.3 
  
  
  
 NFDA-member Firm Caseload (i.e., number of decedents cared for)3 
  
 58.4% of NFDA members handled 150 cases or less; 24.5% reported 151-350 cases; 8.6% reported 351-500 cases; 5.2% reported 501-1000; 3.3% reported 1001 or more. 
  
  
  
 1997 2002 2007 2012 Revenue1 
  
 ($ Millions) Cemeteries and 
  
 Crematories $2,988 $3,231 $3,350 $3,319 Funeral Homes and 
  
 Funeral Services $9,633 $11,049 $11,943 $13,004 TOTAL $12,621 $14,280 $15,293 $16,323 Employment1 Cemeteries and 
  
 Crematories 59,458 41,932 35,035 32,617 Funeral Homes and 
  
 Funeral Services 105,365 106,263 102,978 108,385 TOTAL 164,823 148,195 138,013 141,002 
  
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 Median Cost of an Adult Funeral4 
  
 Funeral Professionals: Contact our member services department (800-228-6332) to purchase a copy of the report from the 2015 General Price List Survey; the report can also be purchased online. 
  
 Contact our member services department (800-228-6332) to purchase a copy of the report from the 2015 General Price List Survey; the report can also be purchased online. Members of the Media: Please contact NFDA for a regional breakdown of the cost of a funeral with burial and funeral with cremation and further information about the 2015 General Price List Survey. 
  
 Median Cost of a Funeral With Burial 
  
 Since the 1960s, NFDA has calculated the median cost of a funeral with burial by totaling the costs of the following items: basic services fee, removal/transfer of remains to funeral home, embalming and other preparation of the body (casketing, cosmetology, dressing and grooming), a metal casket, use of facilities and staff for viewing and a funeral ceremony, use of a hearse, use of a service car/van, and a basic memorial printed package (e.g., memorial cards, register book, etc.). 
  
 The national median cost of a funeral for calendar year 2014 was $7,181. If a vault is included, something that is typically required by a cemetery, the median cost is $8,508. The cost does not take into account cemetery, monument or marker costs or miscellaneous cash-advance charges, such as for flowers or an obituary. 
  
 Over the past decade, the median cost of an adult funeral in the United States has increased 28.6 percent. This is similar to the 2000-2009 period when the median cost of a funeral increased by 26.6 percent. The percent increase during the 1980s (1980-1989) was significantly higher (87 percent), reflecting the significantly higher inflation rates during that decade. 
  
 National Median Cost of an Adult Funeral with Viewing and Burial: 2004 vs. 2014 Item 2014* 2004* % Change Nondeclinable basic services fee $2,000 $1,460 37.0% Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home $310 $195 59.0% Embalming $695 $498 39.6% Other preparation of the body $250 $174 42.9% Use of facilities/staff for viewing $420 $339 23.9% Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony $495 $395 25.3% Hearse $318 $225 41.1% Service car/van $143 $100 42.5% Basic memorial printed package $155 $95 63.2% Metal casket $2,395 $2,100 14.0% Median Cost of a Funeral With Viewing and Burial 
  
 $7,181 $5,582 28.6% Vault $1,327 $998 33.0% Total with vault $8,508 $6,580 29.3% 2004 prices have not been adjusted for inflation. * Median Price – The amount at which half of the figures fall below and half are above. 
  
 National Median Cost of a Funeral With Cremation 
  
 The national median cost of a cremation in 2014 was $6,078. NFDA calculated the median cost of a cost of an adult funeral with cremation by totaling the costs of the following items: basic services fee, removal/transfer of remains to funeral home, embalming and other preparation of the body, use of facilities and staff for viewing and a funeral ceremony, use of a service car/van, basic memorial printed package, cremation fee, cremation casket and urn. The cost does not take into account vault, cemetery monument/marker costs or other miscellaneous cash advance charges. 
  
 National Median Cost of an Adult Funeral with Viewing and Cremation Item 2014* Nondeclinable basic services fee $2,000 Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home $310 Embalming $695 Other preparation of the body $250 Use of facilities/staff for viewing $420 Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony $495 Service car/van $143 Basic memorial printed package $155 Cremation fee (if firm uses a third-party)** $330 Cremation casket $1,000 Urn $280 Median Cost of a Funeral with Viewing and Cremation $6,078 * Median Price – The amount at which half of the figures fall below and half are above. **65% of respondents use a third-party crematory (i.e., the funeral home does not own a crematory) 
  
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 Rates of Cremation and Burial5 
  
  
  
 Cremation was the method of disposition for 45.4 in 2013; 48.7% of people were buried in 2013. 
  
 NFDA Members: You may download a copy of the 2015 Cremation and Burial Report at no cost (login required). 
  
 You may download a copy of the 2015 Cremation and Burial Report at no cost (login required). Members of the Media: Please contact NFDA for a state-by-state breakdown of the rates of cremation and burial and further information about the 2015 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report. 
  
  
  
 Historic Rates of Cremation and Burial and Future Projections: 
  
 2005 final 2010 final 
  
 2013 final 
  
 2014 projected 
  
 2015 projected 
  
 2020 projected 
  
 2030 projected 
  
 Cremation 
  
 32.3% 40.4% 45.4% 46.7% 48.5% 56.2% 71.0% Burial 
  
 61.4% 53.3% 48.7% 47.3% 45.6% 37.9% 23.2% 
  
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 All data published on this page is based on the latest available government, industry, and research reports; data is updated as new information becomes available. The data on this page was last updated on July 30, 2015. 
  
 Sources: ||||| This is a mobile-friendly version of the map. For the full interactive, which animates and allows you to select different years, visit this page on a larger platform. Cremations per year as a percentage of deaths ► — Click to select year Interactive by Andrew Kahn and Chris Kirk 
  
 A half-century ago, nearly everyone who died in the U.S. was buried. Only about 4 percent were cremated. Now, we cremate half our dead. The map above shows cremation rates by state and animates over the past 15 years; during that relatively brief timespan in several states—particularly in the South and Midwest—cremation rates have doubled. Why the shift? 
  
 Money is the biggest reason. “The vast majority of people are looking at value,” says Barbara Kemmis, executive director of the Cremation Association of North America. The average cremation with a memorial service is $3,250 while the average funeral is $7,045, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. As the map shows, cremation tends to be more popular in coastal and mountain regions, where land for gravesites is more expensive. Kemmis notes that there seems to be an increase in so-called direct cremation, the cheapest means of disposal, in which you skip the memorial service altogether. 
  
 Another influence on cremation-vs.-burial rates is the fact that families are more dispersed than in the past, making it harder to visit gravesites, Kemmis says. Unsurprisingly, cremation rates are highest in places full of newcomers (such as California) and retirees (Florida, Nevada). Meanwhile, spiritual views of the body and soul have also changed. Christians historically believed that the body should be preserved whole in the hopes of reunification with the soul at the end of days, says Stephen Prothero, author of Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America. But the ’60s ushered in a wave of New Age notions that reflected a new view of the body as subordinate to the soul, like reincarnation, karma, and transcendence. Cremation acquired a “countercultural cachet”—it was giving the “middle finger to God,” according to Prothero. (The Catholic Church eased its restrictions on cremation in 1963 but still looks down on it.) As the counterculture has gone mainstream, so has cremation. As the map shows, states tend to gather momentum on cremation rates fairly quickly. Kemmis calls this the “new tradition” effect: Once the first family member is cremated, the taboo is broken and other family members follow suit. |||||
Solution:
If you live in Nevada and plan to die there, you'll be in good company should you opt for cremation. According to a cool interactive map created by Slate, 74% of the state's dead were cremated in 2013. That from a country that, as Slate observes, cremated only 4% of the dead five decades ago; the national average is now just under 50%, though the National Funeral Directors Association projects that'll climb to 70.6% by 2030. Credit money (cremation is far cheaper than a traditional funeral), changing habitation patterns (families don't live as close as they once did, meaning gravesites can be tougher to get to), and the fact that cremation is greener for the shift. The six states that, as of 2013, cremated 70% of the dead: Nevada: 74% Washington state: 74% Oregon: 73% Hawaii: 72% New Hampshire: 71% Maine: 70% The lowest cremation state, at just 18%, also happens to be our most religious. Check out your state on Slate's map.