A study by SMU’s School of Economics, in collaboration with Direct Funeral Services revealed that almost 70 per cent of respondents felt that funeral expenses have become much more expensive since the 1980s. However, these expenses have in fact become cheaper as compared to 30 years ago, as prices of funerals become more transparent.

The study, titled "Hatch.Match.Despatch", was led by SMU’s Senior Lecturer of Statistics, Rosie Ching. 173 SMU students (from an SMU Introductory Statistics course) participated in the five-week-long study on close to 8000 respondents from different demographics. Ms Ching revealed that other than those who are highly educated, the End-of-life Index did not touch the 50 point mark, which reflected how Singaporeans are still not open about planning for their death. She added that many respondents felt the need to do so only during old age.