The Russian funeral industry has seen a record surge in prices, with the cost of producing a coffin jumping 105% since the start of the Ukraine invasion, according to reporting by The Moscow Times.
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Data from Russia’s Unified Interdepartmental Statistical Information System shows that, as of June 2026, the average price of a coffin across the country reached 9,167 rubles-more than double the 4,469 rubles charged in February 2022.
Coffin prices began to climb rapidly in the first months of Russia’s invasion. Between February and August 2022, the cost of producing a coffin rose by 12%, or 548 rubles. Another wave of “funeral inflation” followed the announcement of mobilization: while a coffin cost 4,998 rubles in September 2022, by February 2023 the price had risen to 6,669 rubles-an increase of 33%.
Overall, coffin prices jumped 13.6% in 2022, then a staggering 37.2% in 2023, 11.6% in 2024, 9.3% in 2025, and another 7% in the first half of 2026.
Grave-digging costs have also increased, although at a slower pace. In February 2022, digging a grave cost 7,849 rubles; by January 2023, the price had risen to 8,862 rubles. It hit 10,096 rubles in January 2024, 11,467 rubles in January 2025, and 12,576 rubles by December of that year. Since the war began, these services have seen a cumulative increase of 60%. As of 2026, Rosstat stopped including grave-digging in its consumer inflation basket and no longer publishes these prices.
Rosstat data also shows that last year, the Russian funeral industry’s total turnover reached 128 billion rubles, up more than fifty percent compared to pre-war 2021. In 2025 alone, 1,543 new funeral businesses opened, and in the first half of 2026, the industry saw its highest growth in five years-with 995 new companies entering the market.
The demand for funeral services continues to grow alongside soaring Russian military losses in Ukraine, which have reached levels not seen since World War II. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by June 2026, the Russian military had lost 1.4 million personnel, with 450,000 killed-a figure comparable to the population of cities like Kursk or Sochi.
Mediazona and the BBC Russian Service have independently confirmed the deaths of 352,000 Russian soldiers by the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, in Russian-occupied Sevastopol, Crimea, officials have authorized the use of cardboard coffins for social funerals.
Russians have been cutting back on funeral expenses due to rising costs, with an increasing number now choosing cremation as a more affordable alternative to burial in a grave.
