n Colombia, death does not occur in
a single way; it occurs across many
territories at once. In major cities, funeral
service relies on infrastructure, pre-need
plans, digitalization, and an increasingly
segmented offer. In rural, remote, or
difficult-to-access areas, it also depends on
community networks, complex distances
and deeply rooted cultural practices.
This diversity makes Colombia a relevant case study
for international funeral markets. As in other markets,
the industry combines tradition, adaptation, and
modernization; but in Colombia, this transformation
unfolds across a diverse geography, a strong religious
and community dimension, and a growing need for
reliable and structured information to understand
how the funeral ecosystem actually operates.
For a long time, one of the main limitations to
analysing the sector was the absence of consolidated,
comparable information specifically designed
for its operational reality. Although the National
Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE,
Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística),
Colombia’s official statistics authority, produces vital
information on mortality and population, this data
was not always integrated with institutional records,
business directories, religious information, or
territorial variables specific to funeral service delivery.
In this context, the Centro de Investigación
y Estadística Exequial (CIEX, Funeral Research and
Statistics Centre), a private research, knowledge
and data initiative created by La Ascensión S.A.,
has developed a process of collecting, refining and
technically interpreting information to provide a more
COLOMBIA’S
FUNERAL SECTOR
DATA, TERRITORY AND THE TRANSFORMATION
OF A SILENT INDUSTRY
By Guillermo Chaves, CEO, La Ascensión S.A, Colombia
14
No. 114 – 2/2026 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MEMBERS’ NEWS