Funeral business in Africa

Africans are willing to spend large sums on luxurious funerals for their relatives, and they are not alone in this. But Africa has a very high death rate, so each African, on average, has to organize a funeral more often than anyone else in the world. The funeral business in Africa brings a lot of income to its owners.

1. Relatives of the deceased walk in a funeral procession near a cemetery in Lagos, Nigeria. (AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/REUTERS)

2. A street vendor walks past a fish-shaped coffin outside a workshop in Accra, Ghana. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

3. Coffins in the form of a planer and fish in a workshop in Accra, Ghana. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

4. Worker makes a coffin in the form of a film projector in a workshop in Accra, Ghana. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

5. The mistress of the bureau of funeral services stands near the new coffins in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

6. A worker makes a fish-shaped coffin at a workshop in Accra, Ghana. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

7. A coffin in the shape of a film projector stands in a workshop in Accra, Ghana. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

8. A man stands at the entrance to his funeral parlor near the morgue in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

9. A worker makes a coffin in a workshop in Accra, Ghana. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

10. A carpenter attaches a wreath to a coffin in a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

11. A woman sits outside her funeral parlor in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

12. Advertising funeral services at the entrance to the funeral home in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

13. A woman sews upholstery for coffins in a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

14. Carpenter dusts off the silk upholstery of the coffin in a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

15. Relatives of the deceased came to the workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, to pick up the coffin. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

16. Carpenter makes a coffin in a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

17. A sign outside a funeral parlor in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

18. Joiner makes a coffin in a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

19. A sign at a funeral parlor in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

20. Coffins are sold at a funeral home in Soweto, South Africa. (SIPHIWE SIBEKO/REUTERS)

21. Undertaker works in his workshop in Lagos, Nigeria. (AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/REUTERS)

22. A sign at a funeral parlor in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)

23. Tailors brought burial clothes to a workshop near the mortuary in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

24. The undertaker works in his workshop in Lagos, Nigeria. (AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/REUTERS)

25. Funeral procession in Lagos, Nigeria. (AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE/REUTERS)

26. A man sits at a table in a funeral home near the mortuary in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. (LUC GNAGO/REUTERS)

27. Joiners make coffins outside the workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. (NOOR KHAMIS/REUTERS)