Cost of living comparison

Sri Lanka

compared to

Romania

Bucharest vs. Colombo Cost of Living Summary

Bucharest is 69.5% more expensive than Colombo.

Restaurants: pay 2.5 times more in Bucharest
Groceries: pay 0.5% less in Bucharest
Transportation: pay 45.2% more in Bucharest
Housing: pay 50.9% more in Bucharest
Childcare: pay 14.0 times more in Bucharest
Entertainment and Sports: pay 81.1% more in Bucharest
Clothing: pay 2.2 times more in Bucharest

The cost of childcare, restaurants, clothing, entertainment and sports, housing, and transportation in Bucharest are more expensive than in Colombo. Notably, childcare, restaurants, and clothing are significantly more expensive in Bucharest.

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Bucharest vs. Colombo Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bucharest instead of Colombo, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.5 times more for restaurants

	Colombo	Bucharest
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.82 LKR1,264.40	$14.64 RON69.77	+283.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.56 LKR2,500.21	$7.32 RON34.89	-3.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.70 LKR232.34	$2.42 RON11.53	+244.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.26 LKR86.91	$2.25 RON10.73	+757.3%
Average			+153.9%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - Cost of restaurants

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pay 0.5% less for groceries

	Colombo	Bucharest
Bread 1 loaf	$0.55 LKR181.81	$1.32 RON6.29	+140.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.89 LKR2,279.33	$4.36 RON20.78	-36.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.03 LKR1,994.36	$6.22 RON29.62	+3.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.64 LKR541.27	$3.67 RON17.48	+124.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.21 LKR730.38	$3.05 RON14.55	+38.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.06 LKR1,013.41	$0.57 RON2.72	-81.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.37 LKR122.69	$0.72 RON3.45	+95.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.03 LKR672.23	$0.69 RON3.28	-66.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.57 LKR187.25	$1.15 RON5.46	+102.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.46 LKR150.71	$0.36 RON1.74	-19.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.35 LKR116.71	$0.34 RON1.63	-2.9%
Average			-0.5%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - Cost of groceries

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pay 45.2% more for transportation

	Colombo	Bucharest
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.14 LKR1,699.63	$7.45 RON35.52	+45.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$7.19 LKR2,379.16	$20.91 RON99.67	+190.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$37,024.95 LKR12M	$28,531.98 RON136K	-22.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$3.29 LKR1,090.09	$5.65 RON26.91	+71.4%
Average			+45.2%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - Cost of transportation

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pay 50.9% more for housing

	Colombo	Bucharest
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$20.78 LKR6,876.94	$9.27 RON44.16	-55.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$589.61 LKR195K	$677.15 RON3,227.32	+14.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$270.44 LKR89,485.93	$451.32 RON2,151.00	+66.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$41.14 LKR13,611.71	$147.83 RON704.56	+259.4%
Average			+50.9%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - Cost of housing

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pay 14.0 times more for childcare

	Colombo	Bucharest
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$37.78 LKR12,501.04	$627.11 RON2,988.79	+1559.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,208.98 LKR400K	$14,371.87 RON68,496.31	+1088.8%
Average			+1304.7%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - Cost of childcare

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pay 81.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Colombo	Bucharest
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.21 LKR730.06	$3.76 RON17.94	+70.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.51 LKR831.90	$3.51 RON16.71	+39.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$10.28 LKR3,400.28	$6.43 RON30.65	-37.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$13.99 LKR4,630.02	$49.22 RON234.57	+251.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.53 LKR1,500.13	$8.37 RON39.87	+84.5%
Average			+81.1%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.2 times more for clothing

	Colombo	Bucharest
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$18.13 LKR6,000.50	$88.76 RON423.04	+389.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.62 LKR5,500.46	$38.43 RON183.17	+131.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$79.09 LKR26,168.85	$77.83 RON370.96	-1.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$41.76 LKR13,819.33	$91.69 RON436.99	+119.5%
Average			+122.4%

Colombo vs. Bucharest - 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

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