Cost of living comparison

Ethiopia

compared to

South Korea

Seoul vs. Addis Ababa Cost of Living Summary

Seoul is 60.7% more expensive than Addis Ababa.

Restaurants: pay 69.1% more in Seoul
Groceries: pay 2.8 times more in Seoul
Transportation: pay 28.9% more in Seoul
Housing: pay 17.5% more in Seoul
Childcare: pay 3.3 times more in Seoul
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.4 times more in Seoul
Clothing: pay 8.0% less in Seoul

The cost of childcare, groceries, entertainment and sports, restaurants, transportation, and housing in Seoul are more expensive than in Addis Ababa. Notably, childcare, groceries, and entertainment and sports are significantly more expensive in Seoul.

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Seoul vs. Addis Ababa Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Seoul instead of Addis Ababa, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 69.1% more for restaurants

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.00 ETB657.82	$8.96 ₩12,215	+123.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.50 ETB1,068.96	$7.46 ₩10,179	+14.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.61 ETB99.59	$1.58 ₩2,158	+161.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.66 ETB108.07	$0.79 ₩1,072	+19.6%
Average			+69.1%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.8 times more for groceries

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Bread 1 loaf	$1.19 ETB195.62	$3.10 ₩4,224	+160.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.70 ETB607.78	$8.84 ₩12,055	+139.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.09 ETB672.95	$7.79 ₩10,629	+90.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.77 ETB291.17	$3.61 ₩4,917	+103.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.59 ETB754.33	$4.74 ₩6,466	+3.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.44 ETB401.56	$3.46 ₩4,724	+41.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.30 ETB48.98	$1.57 ₩2,136	+425.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.99 ETB162.51	$2.59 ₩3,537	+162.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.31 ETB50.68	$2.83 ₩3,864	+819.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.22 ETB36.18	$1.66 ₩2,259	+653.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 ETB80.19	$1.16 ₩1,575	+136.9%
Average			+179.1%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of groceries

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pay 28.9% more for transportation

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.53 ETB580.29	$5.53 ₩7,545	+56.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$21.11 ETB3,471.64	$46.28 ₩63,112	+119.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$55,000.00 ETB9M	$29,385.60 ₩40M	-46.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$3.53 ETB579.70	$8.51 ₩11,604	+141.4%
Average			+28.9%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of transportation

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pay 17.5% more for housing

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$212.33 ETB34,919.24	$20.82 ₩28,392	-90.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$706.95 ETB116K	$886.39 ₩1M	+25.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$394.55 ETB64,885.61	$620.25 ₩846K	+57.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$156.76 ETB25,780.71	$162.69 ₩222K	+3.8%
Average			+17.5%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of housing

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pay 3.3 times more for childcare

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$136.41 ETB22,433.26	$1,927.59 ₩3M	+1313.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$30,187.50 ETB5M	$22,602.27 ₩31M	-25.1%
Average			+225.3%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.4 times more for entertainment and sports

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$0.80 ETB131.56	$3.73 ₩5,090	+366.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$0.92 ETB151.12	$4.10 ₩5,593	+346.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$8.00 ETB1,315.64	$3.36 ₩4,581	-58.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.15 ETB7,259.90	$58.22 ₩79,399	+31.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.75 ETB616.71	$11.20 ₩15,269	+198.6%
Average			+137.0%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 8.0% less for clothing

	Addis Ababa	Seoul
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$33.14 ETB5,449.91	$57.88 ₩78,937	+74.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$70.86 ETB11,652.80	$32.77 ₩44,695	-53.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$78.65 ETB12,934.01	$69.99 ₩95,451	-11.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$82.70 ETB13,601.12	$82.45 ₩112K	-0.3%
Average			-8.0%

Addis Ababa vs. Seoul - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated November 2026). How we calculate this

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