'Oversize' fee: Australia's burial costs rise as plus-size coffins increase

Many cemeteries around Australia now include an "oversize" fee on their burial price lists as the cost of dying increases generally.

While some are as little as $120, the surcharge can go up to $950 on lists seen by ACM, the publisher of this masthead.

"People in the Western world are generally getting bigger," the head of Australian coffin manufacturer ACC Higgins, Peter MacLeod, said.

"Consequently, the standard size of coffins has increased."

Mr MacLeod said in the 22 years he'd been in his position, he'd overseen two increases in standard coffin sizes.

Where once production of "bariatric", or bespoke large coffins, was unusual, this was now a frequent occurrence, he said.

"That takes a lot of skill on behalf of our people to make that because it has to have product integrity as well," he said.

Most graveyard burial areas were designed for smaller people 50 to 100 years ago, the Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association said.

"When you dig a grave, generally we dig around that sort of 800 millimeters wide, which gives you enough room so that the coffin doesn't catch on the way down," chief executive Ben Kelly said.

Larger graves, particularly with monuments, can be tricky in existing cemeteries so getting the correct dimensions of the body or coffin was important.

"You've got old cemeteries which may have been mapped out a long time ago at a standard width and now, suddenly, we're putting bigger [coffins] in there," Mr Kelly said.

There was a risk of collapse if the walls between graves got too thin.

"It's not meant to be as discrimination or anything like that," he said.

"It's purely just it takes longer to prepare and there's extra steps that need to go in place."

In 2022, 66 per cent of adults in Australia were overweight or obese - about 13 million people - according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

In 1995 the proportion was 56 per cent.

Obesity was more common in older people and more common among those living in regional or remote areas.

The Australian Funeral Directors Association said the industry had adapted by introducing extra equipment for transporting bodies - and sometimes needed extra staff.

"We've definitely had to increase equipment, increase training, have people on reserve just in case we need more staff," association president Kelly Scott said.

But conversations about body size had to be handled sensitively.

"It's a very personal thing and we're very conscious of that - because they can't help that," Ms Scott said.

"We need to make sure that we've got the adequate equipment and people power to ensure that they are handled beautifully."