Cost of living comparison

compared to

Ethiopia vs. Laos Cost of Living Summary

Ethiopia is 76.7% more expensive than Laos overall.

Restaurants: pay 29.2% more in Ethiopia
Groceries: pay 31.5% more in Ethiopia
Transportation: pay 12.4% less in Ethiopia
Housing: pay 4.4 times more in Ethiopia
Childcare: pay 78.7% more in Ethiopia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 20.5% more in Ethiopia
Clothing: pay 47.2% more in Ethiopia

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

Ethiopia vs. Laos Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Ethiopia instead of Laos, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 29.2% more for restaurants

	Laos	Ethiopia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.08 LAK44,969	$4.26 ETB655.54	+105.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.54 LAK119,918	$6.50 ETB1,000.24	+17.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 LAK16,444	$0.61 ETB93.51	-20.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.50 LAK10,719	$0.57 ETB87.20	+14.4%
Average			+29.2%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 31.5% more for groceries

	Laos	Ethiopia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.13 LAK24,565	$1.26 ETB193.73	+10.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$13.26 LAK287,052	$4.34 ETB667.36	-67.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.91 LAK149,607	$5.42 ETB834.53	-21.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.11 LAK45,585	$2.28 ETB351.02	+8.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.10 LAK45,372	$5.76 ETB886.79	+174.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.76 LAK16,405	$3.08 ETB473.48	+306.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.75 LAK16,239	$0.43 ETB66.40	-42.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.97 LAK20,985	$1.06 ETB162.78	+9.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.30 LAK28,222	$0.40 ETB62.30	-68.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 LAK15,261	$0.28 ETB42.45	-60.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.46 LAK9,907	$0.91 ETB139.43	+98.0%
Average			+31.5%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.4% less for transportation

	Laos	Ethiopia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.72 LAK102,231	$4.81 ETB740.52	+1.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$54.89 LAK1,188,115	$12.00 ETB1,846.60	-78.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,639.89 LAK619,954,342	$55,000.00 ETB8,463,587.61	+92.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.51 LAK227,448	$3.62 ETB556.29	-65.6%
Average			-12.4%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.4 times more for housing

	Laos	Ethiopia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.16 LAK198,197	$130.20 ETB20,035.62	+1322.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,004.64 LAK21,746,980	$815.99 ETB125,568.08	-18.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$817.42 LAK17,694,410	$512.43 ETB78,854.26	-37.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$59.90 LAK1,296,718	$121.97 ETB18,769.25	+103.6%
Average			+342.4%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of housing

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pay 78.7% more for childcare

	Laos	Ethiopia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$296.67 LAK6,421,775	$94.05 ETB14,472.47	-68.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,267.93 LAK200,618,663	$30,187.50 ETB4,645,355.47	+225.7%
Average			+78.7%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of childcare

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pay 20.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Laos	Ethiopia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.42 LAK30,727	$0.90 ETB138.50	-36.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.66 LAK35,850	$1.09 ETB167.35	-34.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.98 LAK42,885	$5.10 ETB784.81	+157.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$67.50 LAK1,461,149	$62.10 ETB9,556.74	-8.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.02 LAK65,430	$3.75 ETB577.06	+24.1%
Average			+20.5%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 47.2% more for clothing

	Laos	Ethiopia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$50.20 LAK1,086,754	$45.03 ETB6,929.81	-10.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$65.21 LAK1,411,532	$75.17 ETB11,566.90	+15.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$66.39 LAK1,437,049	$94.08 ETB14,477.62	+41.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$47.52 LAK1,028,728	$115.09 ETB17,709.97	+142.2%
Average			+47.2%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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