The cemetery is maintained by the Yangon City Development Committee's environmental maintenance department.

[2] Yayway Cemetery also consists of various ethnic and religious cemeteries, including those of the Burmese Indians, Sino-Burmese (Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Yunnanese), Karen, Japanese, Baháʼís, Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Parsis, and Jews.

[2] In the mid-1990s, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the ruling junta, forcibly closed down and relocated historic cemeteries lying near the city center of Yangon.

[3] One of the biggest was Kyandaw Cemetery (in Kamayut Township), which was relocated to suburbs in 1996 to 1997, and redeveloped as the Yangon Drugs Elimination Museum.

[6] Today, Yayway Cemetery is the busiest in the Yangon area, handling the highest volume of cremations (70 to 100 per day).