Cost of living comparison

Bhutan

compared to

Laos

Laos vs. Bhutan Cost of Living Summary

Laos is 2.7 times more expensive than Bhutan overall.

Restaurants: pay 10.8% more in Laos
Groceries: pay 61.5% more in Laos
Transportation: pay 2.5 times more in Laos
Housing: pay 5.3 times more in Laos
Childcare: pay 13.0 times more in Laos
Entertainment and Sports: pay 5.9% less in Laos
Clothing: pay 66.6% more in Laos

The cost of childcare, housing, transportation, clothing, groceries, and restaurants in Laos are more expensive than in Bhutan. Notably, childcare, housing, and transportation are significantly more expensive in Laos.

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Laos vs. Bhutan Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Laos instead of Bhutan, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 10.8% more for restaurants

	Bhutan	Laos
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.58 BTN245.70	$2.23 LAK50,211	-13.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.91 BTN466.83	$5.35 LAK121K	+8.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.50 BTN47.50	$0.79 LAK17,779	+57.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.18 BTN17.20	$0.46 LAK10,439	+156.0%
Average			+10.8%

Bhutan vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

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pay 61.5% more for groceries

	Bhutan	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$1.07 BTN101.96	$1.14 LAK25,737	+6.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$1.88 BTN178.54	$12.87 LAK290K	+585.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.03 BTN288.32	$6.94 LAK156K	+128.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.88 BTN178.87	$1.87 LAK42,101	-0.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.79 BTN170.51	$2.81 LAK63,330	+56.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.15 BTN109.22	$0.84 LAK18,975	-26.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.69 BTN65.75	$0.52 LAK11,662	-25.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.73 BTN69.10	$1.19 LAK26,832	+63.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.33 BTN31.76	$0.69 LAK15,639	+107.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.26 BTN24.52	$0.66 LAK14,918	+156.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.31 BTN29.53	$0.49 LAK10,995	+57.0%
Average			+61.5%

Bhutan vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.5 times more for transportation

	Bhutan	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.79 BTN264.82	$5.01 LAK113K	+79.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$5.17 BTN491.40	$52.98 LAK1M	+924.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$16,591.53 BTN2M	$27,872.00 LAK628M	+68.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$13.18 BTN1,253.06	$9.14 LAK206K	-30.7%
Average			+147.5%

Bhutan vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

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pay 5.3 times more for housing

	Bhutan	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$24.17 BTN2,297.69	$9.51 LAK214K	-60.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$127.00 BTN12,071.65	$885.68 LAK20M	+597.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$86.02 BTN8,176.19	$631.74 LAK14M	+634.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$25.81 BTN2,452.87	$65.79 LAK1M	+154.9%
Average			+430.2%

Bhutan vs. Laos - Cost of housing

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pay 13.0 times more for childcare

	Bhutan	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$44.98 BTN4,275.09	$435.49 LAK10M	+868.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$568.68 BTN54,053.67	$9,982.68 LAK225M	+1655.4%
Average			+1203.7%

Bhutan vs. Laos - Cost of childcare

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pay 5.9% less for entertainment and sports

	Bhutan	Laos
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.58 BTN245.70	$1.32 LAK29,812	-48.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.28 BTN121.21	$1.66 LAK37,366	+30.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.88 BTN368.55	$1.78 LAK40,169	-54.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$46.53 BTN4,422.57	$64.54 LAK1M	+38.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.10 BTN294.84	$3.32 LAK74,750	+6.9%
Average			-5.9%

Bhutan vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 66.6% more for clothing

	Bhutan	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$49.97 BTN4,750.10	$48.46 LAK1M	-3.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$24.99 BTN2,375.05	$62.95 LAK1M	+151.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$67.21 BTN6,388.16	$64.36 LAK1M	-4.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$13.96 BTN1,326.77	$46.02 LAK1M	+229.7%
Average			+66.6%

Bhutan vs. Laos - 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: Bhutan vs. Laos

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 63.2% less likely to be unemployed in Laos

Size Comparison · See true size

Bhutan is about 6 times smaller than Laos.

Moving from Bhutan to Laos · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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