Cost of living comparison

Gambia

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Gambia Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 2.9 times more expensive than Gambia overall.

Restaurants: pay 29.2% less in Japan
Groceries: pay 2.0 times more in Japan
Transportation: pay 3.8 times more in Japan
Housing: pay 4.4 times more in Japan
Childcare: pay 71.8 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 49.5% more in Japan
Clothing: pay 24.5% less in Japan

The cost of childcare, housing, transportation, groceries, and entertainment and sports in Japan are more expensive than in Gambia. Expenses including restaurants and clothing are lower in Japan. Notably, childcare, housing, and transportation are significantly more expensive in Japan.

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Japan vs. Gambia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 29.2% less for restaurants

	Gambia	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.31 GMD536.99	$6.75 ¥1,066	-7.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.86 GMD577.36	$5.10 ¥805	-35.1%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.64 GMD193.83	$1.13 ¥179	-57.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.58 GMD116.16	$0.76 ¥120	-52.1%
Average			-29.2%

Gambia vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.0 times more for groceries

	Gambia	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$0.63 GMD46.35	$1.53 ¥241	+142.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.04 GMD223.48	$5.55 ¥877	+82.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.12 GMD375.98	$5.56 ¥879	+8.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.93 GMD141.54	$2.01 ¥318	+4.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.23 GMD90.11	$2.85 ¥450	+132.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.92 GMD67.58	$2.16 ¥342	+135.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.56 GMD41.30	$1.08 ¥171	+92.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.82 GMD60.07	$1.54 ¥243	+88.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.61 GMD45.05	$1.92 ¥303	+212.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.41 GMD30.04	$1.10 ¥174	+169.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.44 GMD32.29	$1.08 ¥170	+144.9%
Average			+100.0%

Gambia vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.8 times more for transportation

	Gambia	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.00 GMD294.08	$4.11 ¥649	+2.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$6.55 GMD481.43	$63.20 ¥9,986	+864.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$2,635.13 GMD194K	$21,047.50 ¥3M	+698.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$24.65 ¥3,895
Average			+279.1%

Gambia vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.4 times more for housing

	Gambia	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$45.05 GMD3,310.81	$33.54 ¥5,300	-25.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$102.56 GMD7,538.16	$546.58 ¥86,367	+432.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$81.08 GMD5,959.46	$360.78 ¥57,008	+345.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$23.25 GMD1,708.96	$113.26 ¥17,897	+387.1%
Average			+343.3%

Gambia vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 71.8 times more for childcare

	Gambia	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$6.76 GMD496.62	$417.01 ¥65,893	+6071.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$135.14 GMD9,932.43	$11,300.14 ¥2M	+8262.1%
Average			+7083.9%

Gambia vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 49.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Gambia	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.61 GMD412.40	$2.57 ¥406	-54.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.69 GMD271.01	$3.06 ¥483	-17.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.69 GMD124.16	$3.83 ¥605	+126.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$23.65 GMD1,738.18	$53.31 ¥8,424	+125.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.38 GMD248.31	$11.73 ¥1,853	+247.1%
Average			+49.5%

Gambia vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 24.5% less for clothing

	Gambia	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$56.00 GMD4,116.00	$46.32 ¥7,320	-17.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.34 GMD3,258.99	$31.33 ¥4,950	-29.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$99.43 GMD7,308.11	$59.45 ¥9,394	-40.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$86.99 GMD6,393.77	$81.04 ¥12,805	-6.8%
Average			-24.5%

Gambia 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: Gambia vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Make 39.1 times more money in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

Gambia is about 33 times smaller than Japan.

Moving from Gambia to Japan · OECD 2023

47 people moved from Gambia to Japan.

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