Cost of living comparison

Japan

compared to

Maldives

Maldives vs. Japan Cost of Living Summary

Maldives is 14.2% more expensive than Japan overall.

Restaurants: pay 11.6% more in Maldives
Groceries: pay 12.5% less in Maldives
Transportation: pay 10.5% less in Maldives
Housing: pay 71.9% more in Maldives
Childcare: pay 65.7% less in Maldives
Entertainment and Sports: pay 36.5% more in Maldives
Clothing: pay 6.4% more in Maldives

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

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Maldives vs. Japan Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 11.6% more for restaurants

	Japan	Maldives
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.75 ¥1,064	$6.00 MVR92.74	-11.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.10 ¥803	$9.57 MVR147.88	+87.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.13 ¥179	$1.63 MVR25.12	+43.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 ¥119	$0.30 MVR4.59	-60.8%
Average			+11.6%

Japan vs. Maldives - Cost of restaurants

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pay 12.5% less for groceries

	Japan	Maldives
Bread 1 loaf	$1.53 ¥240	$1.65 MVR25.57	+8.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.55 ¥875	$3.48 MVR53.75	-37.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.56 ¥877	$6.83 MVR105.52	+22.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.01 ¥317	$1.87 MVR28.89	-7.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.85 ¥449	$2.76 MVR42.72	-2.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.16 ¥341	$1.80 MVR27.83	-16.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥170	$1.39 MVR21.40	+28.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.54 ¥242	$1.59 MVR24.56	+3.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.92 ¥302	$1.22 MVR18.83	-36.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.10 ¥174	$0.75 MVR11.63	-31.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥170	$0.69 MVR10.63	-36.0%
Average			-12.5%

Japan vs. Maldives - Cost of groceries

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pay 10.5% less for transportation

	Japan	Maldives
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.11 ¥647	$3.81 MVR58.81	-7.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$63.20 ¥9,959	$30.82 MVR476.23	-51.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,047.50 ¥3M	$32,446.46 MVR501K	+54.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$24.65 ¥3,884	$17.52 MVR270.70	-28.9%
Average			-10.5%

Japan vs. Maldives - Cost of transportation

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pay 71.9% more for housing

	Japan	Maldives
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$33.54 ¥5,285	$73.00 MVR1,127.92	+117.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$546.58 ¥86,129	$1,043.39 MVR16,120.31	+90.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$360.78 ¥56,851	$739.32 MVR11,422.43	+104.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$113.26 ¥17,848	$85.19 MVR1,316.15	-24.8%
Average			+71.9%

Japan vs. Maldives - Cost of housing

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pay 65.7% less for childcare

	Japan	Maldives
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$417.01 ¥65,712	$184.92 MVR2,857.02	-55.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,300.14 ¥2M	$3,003.87 MVR46,409.85	-73.4%
Average			-65.7%

Japan vs. Maldives - Cost of childcare

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pay 36.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Japan	Maldives
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.57 ¥405	$4.87 MVR75.19	+89.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.06 ¥481	$3.55 MVR54.82	+16.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.83 ¥603	$13.95 MVR215.56	+264.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.31 ¥8,401	$70.81 MVR1,093.98	+32.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.73 ¥1,848	$9.73 MVR150.39	-17.0%
Average			+36.5%

Japan vs. Maldives - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 6.4% more for clothing

	Japan	Maldives
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.32 ¥7,300	$39.51 MVR610.41	-14.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$31.33 ¥4,937	$49.63 MVR766.77	+58.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$59.45 ¥9,368	$87.11 MVR1,345.89	+46.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$81.04 ¥12,770	$52.50 MVR811.17	-35.2%
Average			+6.4%

Japan vs. Maldives - 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: Japan vs. Maldives

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Maldives?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 84.1% more likely to be unemployed in Maldives

Size Comparison · See true size

Japan is about 1,268 times bigger than Maldives.

Moving from Japan to Maldives · UN DESA 2020

118 people born in Japan live in Maldives.

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