Cost of living comparison

Laos

compared to

Ethiopia

Ethiopia vs. Laos Cost of Living Summary

Ethiopia is 5.4% cheaper than Laos overall.

Restaurants: pay 40.5% more in Ethiopia
Groceries: pay 23.1% less in Ethiopia
Transportation: pay 21.7% less in Ethiopia
Housing: pay 0.7% more in Ethiopia
Childcare: pay 2.7% less in Ethiopia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 12.4% less in Ethiopia
Clothing: pay 14.0% more in Ethiopia

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

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Ethiopia vs. Laos Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 40.5% more for restaurants

	Laos	Ethiopia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.23 LAK50,211	$4.00 ETB654.34	+79.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.35 LAK121K	$6.50 ETB1,063.31	+21.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 LAK17,779	$0.61 ETB99.06	-23.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.46 LAK10,439	$0.66 ETB107.50	+41.9%
Average			+40.5%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 23.1% less for groceries

	Laos	Ethiopia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.14 LAK25,737	$1.19 ETB194.58	+4.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$12.87 LAK290K	$3.70 ETB604.57	-71.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.94 LAK156K	$4.09 ETB669.40	-41.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.87 LAK42,101	$1.77 ETB289.63	-5.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.81 LAK63,330	$4.59 ETB750.34	+63.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.84 LAK18,975	$2.44 ETB399.44	+190.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.52 LAK11,662	$0.30 ETB48.73	-42.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.19 LAK26,832	$0.99 ETB161.65	-17.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.69 LAK15,639	$0.31 ETB50.42	-55.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.66 LAK14,918	$0.22 ETB35.99	-66.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 LAK10,995	$0.49 ETB79.77	-0.1%
Average			-23.1%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of groceries

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pay 21.7% less for transportation

	Laos	Ethiopia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 LAK113K	$3.53 ETB577.22	-29.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$52.98 LAK1M	$21.11 ETB3,453.30	-60.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,872.00 LAK628M	$55,000.00 ETB9M	+97.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.14 LAK206K	$3.53 ETB576.64	-61.4%
Average			-21.7%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of transportation

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pay 0.7% more for housing

	Laos	Ethiopia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.51 LAK214K	$212.33 ETB34,734.76	+2133.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$885.68 LAK20M	$706.95 ETB116K	-20.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$631.74 LAK14M	$394.55 ETB64,542.82	-37.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$65.79 LAK1M	$156.76 ETB25,644.51	+138.3%
Average			+0.7%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of housing

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pay 2.7% less for childcare

	Laos	Ethiopia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$435.49 LAK10M	$136.41 ETB22,314.75	-68.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,982.68 LAK225M	$30,187.50 ETB5M	+202.4%
Average			-2.7%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of childcare

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pay 12.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Laos	Ethiopia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.32 LAK29,812	$0.80 ETB130.87	-39.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.66 LAK37,366	$0.92 ETB150.32	-44.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.78 LAK40,169	$8.00 ETB1,308.69	+348.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$64.54 LAK1M	$44.15 ETB7,221.55	-31.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.32 LAK74,750	$3.75 ETB613.45	+13.0%
Average			-12.4%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 14.0% more for clothing

	Laos	Ethiopia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$48.46 LAK1M	$33.14 ETB5,421.12	-31.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$62.95 LAK1M	$70.86 ETB11,591.24	+12.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$64.36 LAK1M	$78.65 ETB12,865.68	+22.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$46.02 LAK1M	$82.70 ETB13,529.26	+79.7%
Average			+14.0%

Laos vs. Ethiopia - 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: Laos vs. Ethiopia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Ethiopia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Be 2.8 times more likely to be unemployed in Ethiopia

Size Comparison · See true size

Laos is about 4.7 times smaller than Ethiopia.

Moving from Laos to Ethiopia · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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