Cost of living comparison

Afghanistan

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Afghanistan Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 3.1 times more expensive than Afghanistan overall.

Restaurants: pay 97.8% more in Japan
Groceries: pay 3.3 times more in Japan
Transportation: pay 99.4% more in Japan
Housing: pay 3.4 times more in Japan
Childcare: pay 14.9 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.9 times more in Japan
Clothing: pay 2.3 times more in Japan

The cost of childcare, housing, groceries, entertainment and sports, clothing, and transportation in Japan are more expensive than in Afghanistan. Notably, childcare, housing, and groceries are significantly more expensive in Japan.

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Japan vs. Afghanistan Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of Afghanistan, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 97.8% more for restaurants

	Afghanistan	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.77 AFN180	$6.75 ¥1,066	+143.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 AFN300	$5.10 ¥805	+10.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.47 AFN31	$1.13 ¥179	+139.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.15 AFN10	$0.76 ¥120	+392.3%
Average			+97.8%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.3 times more for groceries

	Afghanistan	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$0.24 AFN16	$1.53 ¥241	+536.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.19 AFN142	$5.55 ¥877	+153.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.21 AFN208	$5.56 ¥879	+73.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.55 AFN101	$2.01 ¥318	+29.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.81 AFN118	$2.85 ¥450	+56.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.32 AFN21	$2.16 ¥342	+576.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.40 AFN26	$1.08 ¥171	+173.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.42 AFN27	$1.54 ¥243	+267.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.24 AFN16	$1.92 ¥303	+704.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.28 AFN18	$1.10 ¥174	+294.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.22 AFN15	$1.08 ¥170	+381.7%
Average			+234.7%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 99.4% more for transportation

	Afghanistan	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.19 AFN272	$4.11 ¥649	-1.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$20.77 AFN1,350	$63.20 ¥9,986	+204.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$8,461.54 AFN550K	$21,047.50 ¥3M	+148.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.77 AFN375	$24.65 ¥3,895	+327.2%
Average			+99.4%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.4 times more for housing

	Afghanistan	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$96.92 AFN6,300	$33.54 ¥5,300	-65.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$123.08 AFN8,000	$546.58 ¥86,367	+344.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$108.80 AFN7,072	$360.78 ¥57,008	+231.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$32.46 AFN2,110	$113.26 ¥17,897	+249.0%
Average			+235.4%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 14.9 times more for childcare

	Afghanistan	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$20.26 AFN1,317	$417.01 ¥65,893	+1958.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,046.15 AFN68,000	$11,300.14 ¥2M	+980.2%
Average			+1391.2%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.9 times more for entertainment and sports

	Afghanistan	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.31 AFN150	$2.57 ¥406	+11.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.10 AFN71	$3.06 ¥483	+178.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.38 AFN155	$3.83 ¥605	+60.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$11.08 AFN720	$53.31 ¥8,424	+381.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$2.31 AFN150	$11.73 ¥1,853	+408.2%
Average			+192.3%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.3 times more for clothing

	Afghanistan	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$10.64 AFN692	$46.32 ¥7,320	+335.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.00 AFN1,040	$31.33 ¥4,950	+95.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$57.69 AFN3,750	$59.45 ¥9,394	+3.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$25.08 AFN1,630	$81.04 ¥12,805	+223.2%
Average			+130.8%

Afghanistan vs. Japan - 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 October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Afghanistan vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 86.2 times more money in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

Afghanistan is about 1.7 times bigger than Japan.

Moving from Afghanistan to Japan · OECD 2023

704 people moved from Afghanistan to Japan.

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