Cost of living comparison

Ethiopia

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Ethiopia Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 34.5% more expensive than Ethiopia overall.

Restaurants: pay 43.3% more in South Korea
Groceries: pay 2.7 times more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 23.2% more in South Korea
Housing: pay 18.9% less in South Korea
Childcare: pay 63.7% more in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.3 times more in South Korea
Clothing: pay 17.4% more in South Korea

The cost of groceries, entertainment and sports, childcare, restaurants, transportation, and clothing in South Korea are more expensive than in Ethiopia. Notably, groceries and entertainment and sports are significantly more expensive in South Korea.

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South Korea vs. Ethiopia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in South Korea instead of Ethiopia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 43.3% more for restaurants

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.00 ETB657.82	$7.06 ₩9,627	+76.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.50 ETB1,068.96	$6.17 ₩8,410	-5.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.61 ETB99.59	$1.53 ₩2,083	+152.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.66 ETB108.07	$0.88 ₩1,207	+34.7%
Average			+43.3%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.7 times more for groceries

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.19 ETB195.62	$3.04 ₩4,143	+155.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.70 ETB607.78	$6.12 ₩8,352	+65.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.09 ETB672.95	$8.23 ₩11,221	+101.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.77 ETB291.17	$2.94 ₩4,009	+66.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.59 ETB754.33	$4.11 ₩5,604	-10.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.44 ETB401.56	$4.00 ₩5,458	+63.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.30 ETB48.98	$1.55 ₩2,114	+420.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.99 ETB162.51	$3.00 ₩4,087	+203.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.31 ETB50.68	$2.63 ₩3,590	+754.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.22 ETB36.18	$2.03 ₩2,774	+824.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 ETB80.19	$1.26 ₩1,722	+158.9%
Average			+174.6%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 23.2% more for transportation

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.53 ETB580.29	$5.01 ₩6,830	+41.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$21.11 ETB3,471.64	$46.10 ₩62,878	+118.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$55,000.00 ETB9M	$28,394.53 ₩39M	-48.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$3.53 ETB579.70	$8.59 ₩11,720	+143.8%
Average			+23.2%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 18.9% less for housing

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$212.33 ETB34,919.24	$24.34 ₩33,198	-88.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$706.95 ETB116K	$561.73 ₩766K	-20.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$394.55 ETB64,885.61	$387.83 ₩529K	-1.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$156.76 ETB25,780.71	$153.72 ₩210K	-1.9%
Average			-18.9%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 63.7% more for childcare

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$136.41 ETB22,433.26	$545.93 ₩745K	+300.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$30,187.50 ETB5M	$20,214.53 ₩28M	-33.0%
Average			+63.7%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.3 times more for entertainment and sports

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$0.80 ETB131.56	$3.30 ₩4,499	+312.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$0.92 ETB151.12	$3.66 ₩4,995	+298.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$8.00 ETB1,315.64	$3.35 ₩4,565	-58.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.15 ETB7,259.90	$57.32 ₩78,173	+29.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.75 ETB616.71	$11.28 ₩15,390	+200.9%
Average			+125.6%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 17.4% more for clothing

	Ethiopia	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$33.14 ETB5,449.91	$67.53 ₩92,101	+103.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$70.86 ETB11,652.80	$53.43 ₩72,869	-24.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$78.65 ETB12,934.01	$78.10 ₩107K	-0.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$82.70 ETB13,601.12	$102.84 ₩140K	+24.3%
Average			+17.4%

Ethiopia vs. South Korea - 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

Compare further: Ethiopia vs. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in South Korea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Make 38.8 times more money in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Ethiopia is about 11 times bigger than South Korea.

Moving from Ethiopia to South Korea · OECD 2023

329 people moved from Ethiopia to South Korea.

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