Haiti has families going into debt due to funeral costs
While funerals are costly in any number of countries, Haitian undertakers get away with charging rates that exceed what most citizens earn in a year.
A 2012 report by the Brazil-based Igarape Institute indicated that funeral costs in Haiti average about $5,000 per household and interest rates up to 150 percent were charged by moneylenders and morticians.
“In some cases we see poor families paying significantly more for mortician services than middle-class families because they are less informed about options and don’t believe they have the room to negotiate the costs,” said researcher Athena Kolbe, a co-author of the report.