Cost of living comparison

Laos

compared to

Maldives

Maldives vs. Laos Cost of Living Summary

Maldives is 22.5% more expensive than Laos overall.

Restaurants: pay 96.9% more in Maldives
Groceries: pay 21.0% more in Maldives
Transportation: pay 11.4% less in Maldives
Housing: pay 30.9% more in Maldives
Childcare: pay 64.3% less in Maldives
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.5 times more in Maldives
Clothing: pay 0.2% less in Maldives

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

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Maldives vs. Laos Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 96.9% more for restaurants

	Laos	Maldives
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.23 LAK50,105	$6.00 MVR92.74	+169.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.35 LAK120K	$9.57 MVR147.88	+79.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 LAK17,741	$1.63 MVR25.12	+106.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.46 LAK10,416	$0.30 MVR4.59	-35.9%
Average			+96.9%

Laos vs. Maldives - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.0% more for groceries

	Laos	Maldives
Bread 1 loaf	$1.14 LAK25,683	$1.65 MVR25.57	+44.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$12.87 LAK289K	$3.48 MVR53.75	-73.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.94 LAK156K	$6.83 MVR105.52	-1.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.87 LAK42,012	$1.87 MVR28.89	+0.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.81 LAK63,196	$2.76 MVR42.72	-1.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.84 LAK18,935	$1.80 MVR27.83	+113.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.52 LAK11,638	$1.39 MVR21.40	+167.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.19 LAK26,775	$1.59 MVR24.56	+33.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.69 LAK15,606	$1.22 MVR18.83	+75.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.66 LAK14,886	$0.75 MVR11.63	+13.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 LAK10,972	$0.69 MVR10.63	+41.0%
Average			+21.0%

Laos vs. Maldives - Cost of groceries

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pay 11.4% less for transportation

	Laos	Maldives
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 LAK113K	$3.81 MVR58.81	-24.1%
Monthly public transit pass	$52.98 LAK1M	$30.82 MVR476.23	-41.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,872.00 LAK627M	$32,446.46 MVR501K	+16.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.14 LAK205K	$17.52 MVR270.70	+91.8%
Average			-11.4%

Laos vs. Maldives - Cost of transportation

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pay 30.9% more for housing

	Laos	Maldives
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.51 LAK214K	$73.00 MVR1,127.92	+667.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$885.68 LAK20M	$1,043.39 MVR16,120.31	+17.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$631.74 LAK14M	$739.32 MVR11,422.43	+17.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$65.79 LAK1M	$85.19 MVR1,316.15	+29.5%
Average			+30.9%

Laos vs. Maldives - Cost of housing

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pay 64.3% less for childcare

	Laos	Maldives
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$435.49 LAK10M	$184.92 MVR2,857.02	-57.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,982.68 LAK224M	$3,003.87 MVR46,409.85	-69.9%
Average			-64.3%

Laos vs. Maldives - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.5 times more for entertainment and sports

	Laos	Maldives
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.32 LAK29,749	$4.87 MVR75.19	+267.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.66 LAK37,287	$3.55 MVR54.82	+114.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.78 LAK40,084	$13.95 MVR215.56	+682.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$64.54 LAK1M	$70.81 MVR1,093.98	+9.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.32 LAK74,592	$9.73 MVR150.39	+193.4%
Average			+148.6%

Laos vs. Maldives - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 0.2% less for clothing

	Laos	Maldives
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$48.46 LAK1M	$39.51 MVR610.41	-18.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$62.95 LAK1M	$49.63 MVR766.77	-21.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$64.36 LAK1M	$87.11 MVR1,345.89	+35.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$46.02 LAK1M	$52.50 MVR811.17	+14.1%
Average			-0.2%

Laos 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: Laos vs. Maldives

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Maldives?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 6.3 times more money in Maldives

Size Comparison · See true size

Laos is about 795 times bigger than Maldives.

Moving from Laos to Maldives · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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