Singapore Death-Care Fees: Every Published Price in One Table

This page is a reference table, not advice. It collects every fee for death care in Singapore that a government authority actually publishes, with the authority named against each figure, so that anyone comparing a quote has a fixed set of numbers to work from.

It deliberately does not estimate what a funeral costs in total. That number depends on wake length, venue and casket, and our guide to funeral costs in Singapore covers it properly. What follows is only the part that is fixed, published, and identical for everyone.

All figures are in Singapore dollars and are as published at the time of writing. Fees change.

Cremation fees

The four crematoria

Singapore has four crematoria: Mandai Crematorium and Mandai North Crematorium, both government-managed, and two private ones run by Buddhist institutions. The government fee is a flat national rate. The two private figures are published by NEA rather than only by the temples themselves, which makes them unusually reliable as comparison points.

Key figure: cremation at a government crematorium in Singapore costs $100 for an adult. There are four crematoria in Singapore, two government-managed and two private.

Burial fees

One cemetery, several fee bands

Choa Chu Kang Cemetery Complex is the only cemetery in Singapore open for burials.

Key figure: burial at a government cemetery in Singapore costs $940 for a citizen or permanent resident aged 10 or above. Foreigners may be buried in Singapore only if the deceased has immediate next-of-kin, meaning parents, spouse or children only, who are citizens or permanent residents, and only with prior written permission from NEA.

Key rule: with effect from 1 November 1998, the burial period for all graves in Singapore is limited to 15 years. At the end of 15 years the graves are exhumed. Where the religion permits cremation, the exhumed remains are cremated and stored in a columbarium niche. Where burial is mandated by religion, the remains are re-buried in smaller individual plots.

Columbarium niche fees

A single national schedule

One schedule applies to all government columbaria.

Key figure: a standard niche at a government columbarium in Singapore costs $500 and a family niche $900.

Key rule: niches at government columbaria are allocated sequentially, and no advance booking of niches is allowed. A government niche cannot be reserved before a death.

Ash scattering fees

Two government options

After keeping ashes at home, scattering is the lowest-cost lawful destination, and there are exactly two government-sanctioned locations for it.

Key rule: only fine ashes may be scattered at the government gardens. Cremated remains require processing into fine ashes first, arranged at the Ash Collection Centres. The MPA’s Port Marine Safety Control Centre can be reached at 6325 2488.

What is not published

Why this section matters more than the tables above

The fees above come to a few hundred dollars for a cremation and a niche. A Singapore funeral costs considerably more than that, and the entire difference sits in items no authority prices. Knowing which is which is the practical value of this page: it shows exactly where a quote is repeating a rule and where it is quoting itself.

Not government-set, and driven by choice

The total cost of a funeral, funeral packages, caskets and coffins, urns, embalming, and priest, monk or celebrant fees are all set by providers. Wake length, venue type and casket are the three choices that move the number most. Embalming is not price-regulated, although funeral parlours with embalming facilities are licensed by NEA.

Not published, and requiring an enquiry

Private columbarium niche prices are not published by most facilities, including the largest one in Singapore. Ancestral tablets and pedestals are placed at temples and private facilities and are similarly unpublished. In both cases a direct enquiry is the only route to a real figure.

Not published at all

NEA does not publish a duration for the cremation process itself. The Temporary Occupation Licence fee for a wake using public roads or state land is described as the prevailing fee rather than a fixed published figure.

What to do with an unpublished figure

Treat any number found for these items as a provider price or a third-party estimate, and confirm it at source. A figure carrying no publication date and no named authority is not a fact about Singapore. It is somebody’s quote from an unknown year.

Facility addresses and contacts

Check which facility a phone number belongs to

Several Choa Chu Kang facilities sit close together with similar names, and families routinely travel to the wrong one. The columbarium, the ash collection centre and the cemetery are three different places with three different functions.

Opening and booking hours

Every counter closes for lunch

The 1pm to 2pm closure applies across NEA’s death-care counters. Given the travel time out to Mandai or Choa Chu Kang, arriving at 12.45pm for a booking means arriving at 2pm.

Note: the Choa Chu Kang Crematorium weekend closure took effect on 1 February 2025.

Payment methods accepted by NEA

No cash option is listed

For cremation, burial and niche bookings, NEA accepts NETS, Cash Card and credit card. Cash Card is accepted over the counter. Burial fees are paid at the service counters before the burial.

Time limits

The seven-day wake limit

A funeral wake extending more than seven days after the death requires prior written permission from NEA. Separately, where the body is not embalmed, a wake may be held only with the body in a hermetically sealed coffin without a viewing window, again for a period not exceeding seven days after death. Requests for longer go to NEA’s Memorial Facilities and Planning Division or through the NEA ePortal.

The 15-year burial period

With effect from 1 November 1998 the burial period for all graves in Singapore is limited to 15 years, after which the graves are exhumed. This applies to every grave rather than to a category of them, and for anyone weighing burial it is the most consequential rule on this page.

No advance booking of niches

Less a time limit than a timing rule, and it catches families out: a government columbarium niche cannot be booked before a death, and niches are allocated sequentially rather than chosen.

How to use these figures against a quote

Subtract, then ask

Subtract the published fees from the quoted total. What remains is the provider’s charge, and that is the part to ask about. The Competition and Consumer Commission Singapore’s A.S.K. checklist, produced with NEA’s support from a market study of Singapore funeral services, puts it as: ascertain the wishes of the deceased and the family, seek clear answers so you know what you are paying for, and know the independent sources you can check.

For the variable side, see our guides to what funeral packages include, how long a funeral takes and the funeral wake, since wake length and venue are the largest cost drivers. For niches specifically, how to compare niche prices and the columbarium niche guide.

A worked example, using only published figures

Cremation and a government niche

For an adult Singapore citizen, cremated at a government crematorium and placed in a standard niche at a government columbarium, taking the niche allocated rather than choosing one:

• Cremation at Mandai: $100
• Standard niche: $500
• Total in published government fees: $600

Choosing a specific niche location adds $250. Taking a family niche instead of a standard one adds $400. The maximum in published fees on this route, with a family niche and a chosen location, is $1,250.

Cremation and scattering

• Cremation at Mandai: $100
• Inland ash scattering booking fee at the Garden of Peace: $320
• Total in published government fees: $420

Burial, and then the exhumation fifteen years later

• Burial at a government cemetery, citizen or PR, adult: $940
• Fifteen years later, exhumation, then cremation at $100, then a standard niche at $500
• Published government fees on the cremation and niche stage alone: $600

The exhumation itself carries costs that are not a single published NEA fee, and our page on the cost of grave exhumation in Singapore covers what is involved.

What these totals are not

None of the above is the cost of a funeral. They exclude the casket, the wake, the venue, transport, the priest or celebrant, embalming, the urn, the plaque and the funeral director. In a typical Singapore funeral those items together are the overwhelming majority of the bill, and every one of them is set by a provider rather than by an authority.

Common misreadings of these figures

Mistaking a cremation fee for a niche price

The most frequent error. The $327 published for Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery is a cremation fee, not the cost of keeping ashes there. Bright Hill and Guang Ming Shan are the same monastery under different names, which compounds the confusion.

Assuming a government niche can be reserved

It cannot. Any pre-need offer that appears to secure a niche is describing a private facility.

Assuming the burial fee is the end of it

The 15-year period means a second event and a second set of costs, and it applies to every grave.

Reading a third-party price list as authoritative

Most carry no date and no named source. Where a figure matters, take it from the authority named in the Sources section below or from the facility itself.

Assuming these fees cover a foreigner

Burial fees double for a deceased person who is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident, and burial is permitted only where immediate next-of-kin are citizens or permanent residents, with prior written permission from NEA.

Related references on this site

• What to do when someone passes away in Singapore
• The funeral process in Singapore
• The cremation process in Singapore
• What happens after cremation
• Cremation urns in Singapore
• Choa Chu Kang Columbarium
• Choa Chu Kang cemetery burial guide
• Cremation compared with burial
• Ash disposition options
• The grave exhumation process
• Cost of grave exhumation
• Why exhumation is required
• Applying for an NEA exhumation permit
• Night exhumation rituals
• Advance funeral planning checklist
• Pre-planning
• Choosing a funeral service
• Buddhist and Taoist funeral services
• Taoist funerals in Singapore
• Singapore Buddhist funeral customs
• Religious views on cremation
• Ancestral tablets in Singapore
• The 49-day and 100-day mourning periods
• Feng shui in Singapore funerals

Sources

Cremation, burial, niche and inland ash scattering fees, facility addresses, opening hours, payment methods, the seven-day wake limit and the 15-year burial period: National Environment Agency, published information on burial, cremation and ash management, and on arranging a funeral. Sea ash scattering site and hours: Maritime Port Authority. The A.S.K. checklist: Competition and Consumer Commission Singapore, produced with NEA’s support.

Where a figure is not published by an authority, this page records it as not published rather than estimating it.

Speaking to someone

Nirvana Memorial Garden arranges Buddhist, Taoist, Christian and Catholic funerals in Singapore and provides columbarium niches and ancestral tablets. If you have a quote you want read against these figures, send it to us and we will tell you which parts are fixed fees and which are not.

Call +65 6363 6363 or email contact@nirvanasingapore.sg.

Every figure on this page is as published by the named authority at the time of writing. Fees, hours and rules change, and the Choa Chu Kang Ash Collection Centre hours changed as recently as 1 February 2025. Confirm current figures with NEA before relying on them for a decision.