Cost of living comparison

Japan

compared to

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka vs. Japan Cost of Living Summary

Sri Lanka is 55.9% cheaper than Japan overall.

Restaurants: pay 42.9% less in Sri Lanka
Groceries: pay 42.9% less in Sri Lanka
Transportation: pay 50.1% less in Sri Lanka
Housing: pay 58.8% less in Sri Lanka
Childcare: pay 93.5% less in Sri Lanka
Entertainment and Sports: pay 51.8% less in Sri Lanka
Clothing: pay 44.0% less in Sri Lanka

Expenses including childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, transportation, clothing, and restaurants are lower in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka vs. Japan Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sri Lanka instead of Japan, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 42.9% less for restaurants

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$6.75 ¥1,066	$2.19 LKR726.11	-67.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.10 ¥805	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	+21.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.13 ¥179	$0.82 LKR270.87	-27.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 ¥120	$0.31 LKR101.62	-59.5%
Average			-42.9%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of restaurants

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pay 42.9% less for groceries

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Bread 1 loaf	$1.53 ¥241	$0.50 LKR164.88	-67.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.55 ¥877	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	-8.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.56 ¥879	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	-10.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.01 ¥318	$1.59 LKR525.48	-21.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.85 ¥450	$1.92 LKR637.54	-32.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.16 ¥342	$2.39 LKR790.19	+10.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥171	$0.33 LKR110.92	-69.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.54 ¥243	$1.65 LKR546.03	+7.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.92 ¥303	$0.59 LKR195.36	-69.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.10 ¥174	$0.45 LKR150.14	-58.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 ¥170	$0.34 LKR113.13	-68.2%
Average			-42.9%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of groceries

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pay 50.1% less for transportation

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.11 ¥649	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	+16.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$63.20 ¥9,986	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	-92.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,047.50 ¥3M	$29,619.96 LKR10M	+40.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$24.65 ¥3,895	$2.96 LKR979.01	-88.0%
Average			-50.1%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of transportation

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pay 58.8% less for housing

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$33.54 ¥5,300	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	-51.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$546.58 ¥86,367	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	-54.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$360.78 ¥57,008	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	-60.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$113.26 ¥17,897	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	-68.4%
Average			-58.8%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of housing

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pay 93.5% less for childcare

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$417.01 ¥65,893	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	-93.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,300.14 ¥2M	$711.79 LKR236K	-93.7%
Average			-93.5%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of childcare

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pay 51.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.57 ¥406	$2.16 LKR714.17	-16.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.06 ¥483	$2.16 LKR713.82	-29.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.83 ¥605	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	+159.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$53.31 ¥8,424	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	-81.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.73 ¥1,853	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	-68.9%
Average			-51.8%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 44.0% less for clothing

	Japan	Sri Lanka
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.32 ¥7,320	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	-53.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$31.33 ¥4,950	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	-58.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$59.45 ¥9,394	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	+20.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$81.04 ¥12,805	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	-58.5%
Average			-44.0%

Japan vs. Sri Lanka - 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: Japan vs. Sri Lanka

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Sri Lanka?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 86.1% less money in Sri Lanka

Size Comparison · See true size

Japan is about 6 times bigger than Sri Lanka.

Moving from Japan to Sri Lanka · UN DESA 2020

848 people born in Japan live in Sri Lanka.

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