Goliath Caskets is a company in Indiana that makes specialized caskets – for the obese. With dangerously rising obesity levels among Americans, who could say they didn’t see this coming?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says that one-third of U.S. adults are obese. Among the children and teens, the rate of obesity is at 17%. It’s no surprise then that several businesses have started to cater to the overweight – clothing, footwear, cars, airlines and now, as a generation of obese people begins to die, the need for extra large caskets has also become reality. Goliath Caskets was set up in 1990, specializing in large-sized caskets. However, over the years even the ‘normal’ sized casket manufactured by them has gotten larger. Owner Keith Davis says that when they first started, 36 inches was the widest one they made. But now they’re up to 52 inches wide and the casket can hold a person who weighs as much as 1,000 pounds. About half-a-dozen to a dozen of their biggest caskets are sold each year, as well as more than 200 slightly smaller ones.

When Goliath was founded, they were perhaps one of the very few in the business to create oversized caskets. Times have changed now, and every casket manufacturer has had to make size modifications. Casket Connection is one such company in San Antonio, Texas. Tim Calderon, the owner, says that around 10 years ago there were hardly any orders for oversized caskets. “Now, I’d say probably every 10th call is someone who needs an oversize casket.  And even some of our oversize caskets aren’t big enough to accommodate the person,” he said.

Statistics show that by the year 2030 about half of all the people in the U.S. will be obese. Wonder what caskets will end up looking like by then.