Cost of living comparison

Afghanistan

compared to

Russia

Russia vs. Afghanistan Cost of Living Summary

Russia is 2.5 times more expensive than Afghanistan overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.6 times more in Russia
Groceries: pay 93.1% more in Russia
Transportation: pay 38.4% more in Russia
Housing: pay 2.8 times more in Russia
Childcare: pay 13.8 times more in Russia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.1 times more in Russia
Clothing: pay 4.0 times more in Russia

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

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Russia vs. Afghanistan Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.6 times more for restaurants

	Afghanistan	Russia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.77 AFN180	$10.83 RUB894.72	+291.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.62 AFN300	$6.39 RUB528.16	+38.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.47 AFN31	$1.16 RUB95.62	+144.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.15 AFN10	$0.60 RUB49.27	+287.6%
Average			+159.1%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 93.1% more for groceries

	Afghanistan	Russia
Bread 1 loaf	$0.24 AFN16	$0.77 RUB63.38	+219.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.19 AFN142	$5.51 RUB455.14	+151.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.21 AFN208	$4.39 RUB362.53	+36.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.55 AFN101	$1.57 RUB129.78	+1.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.81 AFN118	$2.44 RUB201.91	+34.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.32 AFN21	$0.84 RUB69.40	+162.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.40 AFN26	$0.80 RUB66.30	+102.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.42 AFN27	$0.81 RUB67.22	+94.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.24 AFN16	$1.33 RUB109.55	+456.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.28 AFN18	$0.35 RUB29.18	+26.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.22 AFN15	$0.28 RUB23.52	+27.5%
Average			+93.1%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - Cost of groceries

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pay 38.4% more for transportation

	Afghanistan	Russia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.19 AFN272	$3.08 RUB254.77	-26.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$20.77 AFN1,350	$24.17 RUB1,997.57	+16.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$8,461.54 AFN550K	$32,081.81 RUB3M	+279.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.77 AFN375	$5.45 RUB450.28	-5.5%
Average			+38.4%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.8 times more for housing

	Afghanistan	Russia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$96.92 AFN6,300	$8.47 RUB700.03	-91.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$123.08 AFN8,000	$496.53 RUB41,028.91	+303.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$108.80 AFN7,072	$335.29 RUB27,705.54	+208.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$32.46 AFN2,110	$92.30 RUB7,626.55	+184.4%
Average			+183.8%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - Cost of housing

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pay 13.8 times more for childcare

	Afghanistan	Russia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$20.26 AFN1,317	$402.75 RUB33,279.52	+1888.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,046.15 AFN68,000	$9,958.40 RUB823K	+851.9%
Average			+1275.7%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports

	Afghanistan	Russia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.31 AFN150	$2.06 RUB170.10	-10.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.10 AFN71	$2.73 RUB225.71	+148.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.38 AFN155	$2.85 RUB235.62	+19.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$11.08 AFN720	$37.43 RUB3,092.83	+237.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$2.31 AFN150	$6.26 RUB517.18	+171.2%
Average			+107.7%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.0 times more for clothing

	Afghanistan	Russia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$10.64 AFN692	$83.60 RUB6,907.85	+685.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.00 AFN1,040	$55.20 RUB4,561.14	+245.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$57.69 AFN3,750	$125.97 RUB10,408.90	+118.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$25.08 AFN1,630	$111.42 RUB9,206.92	+344.3%
Average			+302.7%

Afghanistan vs. Russia - 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. Russia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Russia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Make 42.1 times more money in Russia

Size Comparison · See true size

Afghanistan is about 26 times smaller than Russia.

Moving from Afghanistan to Russia · UN DESA 2020

5,090 people born in Afghanistan live in Russia.

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