Is it Illegal to Die in Longyearbyen, Norway?
I recently came across a strange fact about the town of Longyearbyen located on the archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. Supposedly it’s illegal to die there and that felt quite frankly, like bullshit. So I did a bit of googling and to my surprise, it’s a well-known fact that it’s illegal to die in Longyearbyen, Norway… except it’s not true.
So what the hell is going on and why do people think it’s illegal to die there?
“We got a report of a death, breach on three!”
Illegal to Die in Longyearbyen
According to multiple different websites, often with articles titled “Why It’s Illegal to Die In Longyearbyen, Norway” or “It's Illegal to Die in This Town in Norway, Here's Why”, you’re not allowed to die in Longyearbyen because of a law passed around 1950. This law supposedly went into effect after it was discovered that bodies buried during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic hadn’t decomposed.
While it’s true that bodies hadn’t decomposed, there were no laws passed because of this. See Longyearbyen is around 800 miles from the North Pole and there are two things that are true about the North Pole; one, it’s freezing and two, Santa runs his elf workshop with an iron fist.
“You want presents? Well then shut the hell up.”
Due to the frigid temperatures, a layer of permafrost lies just beneath the ground. For those who don’t know, permafrost is frozen ground with a temperature of 0 or below, this makes it pretty difficult for bodies to decompose. When that little quirk was discovered, the small graveyard in Longyearbyen stopped accepting bodies.
Besides that, there are no forms of elderly care in Longyearbyen and the small hospital isn’t equipped to provide long-term care to those in their final stages of life. Since the town only has a population of about 1,000, there wasn’t much of an incentive to build these services when people can just be sent to the mainland.
In fact, to be a resident in Longyearbyen you need to have an address in the mainland because when you do start knocking at death’s door, you’re going to be sent there for treatment. So is it illegal to die in Longyearbyen? Nope, and it wouldn’t make sense to have such a law. Is it forbidden? Not even that, which again would be a weird policy to have.
“Alright, everyone go home, it’s just another death.”
People have actually died in Longyearbyen and while there aren’t many because of the above practices, those that have usually want to be buried on the mainland. If their family chooses to have them buried in Longyearbyen, they can, except it has to be cremation because bodies don’t decompose.
So the question really is, why do people think it’s illegal to die in Longyearbyen, Norway?
Origin of the Myth
Turns out it’s all because of some artistic license a journalist took in 2008 when they wrote an article for the BBC entitled “Why Dying is Forbidden in the Artic”. It wasn’t just that the title was clickbait but also that the second line of the article states,
“It is forbidden to die in the Arctic town of Longyearbyen.”
Over time that “forbidden” has changed to “illegal” thanks to other websites’ articles. So it’s not entirely the fault of BBC that this myth has spread but the BBC article doesn’t help when a few paragraphs down it states,
“Longyearbyen's "no death" policy stems as much from its remote location as from its harsh climate.”
It goes without saying that no such policy exists. Interestingly a variation of this myth exists that says that it’s illegal for babies to be born in Longyearbyen as well, again not true. Doctors at Longyearbyen do require those pregnant to travel to the mainland to give birth about 3 weeks before the due date but there’s no law against giving birth.
The main reason is, again, the hospital is not equipped to handle that procedure and it’s definitely not equipped to take care of the patient if something goes wrong. Since the townspeople are aware of this, no one really chooses to roll the dice when they go into labor.
So if you hear someone say it’s illegal to die in a small town in Norway, yell out bullshit and show them this article.
Quick Facts
Longyearbyen, Norway is the world’s most northern settlement
There’s another myth about Longyearbyen that states everyone must have a gun due to polar bears, this is not true.
Longyearbyen is named after its founder John Munro Longyear and was originally known as Longyear City
