Cost of living comparison

Laos

compared to

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea vs. Laos Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 42.2% more expensive than Laos overall.

Restaurants: pay 83.5% more in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 71.7% more in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 4.6% less in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 41.3% more in Papua New Guinea
Childcare: pay 9.4% more in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 83.4% more in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 26.5% more in Papua New Guinea

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

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Papua New Guinea vs. Laos Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of Laos, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 83.5% more for restaurants

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.23 LAK50,211	$7.78 PGK35.37	+249.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.35 LAK121K	$5.56 PGK25.27	+3.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 LAK17,779	$0.75 PGK3.41	-4.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.46 LAK10,439	$0.67 PGK3.03	+43.9%
Average			+83.5%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 71.7% more for groceries

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.14 LAK25,737	$1.52 PGK6.91	+33.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$12.87 LAK290K	$4.32 PGK19.64	-66.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.94 LAK156K	$7.10 PGK32.28	+2.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.87 LAK42,101	$3.69 PGK16.78	+97.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.81 LAK63,330	$2.58 PGK11.75	-8.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.84 LAK18,975	$1.95 PGK8.88	+131.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.52 LAK11,662	$1.44 PGK6.57	+179.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.19 LAK26,832	$3.29 PGK14.97	+176.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.69 LAK15,639	$2.92 PGK13.29	+321.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.66 LAK14,918	$1.51 PGK6.88	+128.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.49 LAK10,995	$1.31 PGK5.96	+168.6%
Average			+71.7%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 4.6% less for transportation

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 LAK113K	$3.78 PGK17.18	-24.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$52.98 LAK1M	$22.22 PGK101.06	-58.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,872.00 LAK628M	$50,004.77 PGK227K	+79.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.14 LAK206K	$23.34 PGK106.12	+155.4%
Average			-4.6%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 41.3% more for housing

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.51 LAK214K	$91.68 PGK416.89	+864.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$885.68 LAK20M	$1,603.86 PGK7,293.44	+81.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$631.74 LAK14M	$555.61 PGK2,526.59	-12.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$65.79 LAK1M	$89.65 PGK407.67	+36.3%
Average			+41.3%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay 9.4% more for childcare

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$435.49 LAK10M	$842.47 PGK3,831.07	+93.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,982.68 LAK225M	$6,176.41 PGK28,086.83	-38.1%
Average			+9.4%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 83.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.32 LAK29,812	$3.00 PGK13.64	+126.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.66 LAK37,366	$2.47 PGK11.24	+49.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.78 LAK40,169	$6.45 PGK29.31	+261.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$64.54 LAK1M	$61.49 PGK279.61	-4.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.32 LAK74,750	$8.89 PGK40.43	+168.0%
Average			+83.4%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 26.5% more for clothing

	Laos	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$48.46 LAK1M	$32.73 PGK148.82	-32.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$62.95 LAK1M	$31.67 PGK144.02	-49.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$64.36 LAK1M	$136.12 PGK619.02	+111.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$46.02 LAK1M	$163.90 PGK745.35	+256.2%
Average			+26.5%

Laos vs. Papua New Guinea - 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. Papua New Guinea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Papua New Guinea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Be 2.2 times more likely to be unemployed in Papua New Guinea

Size Comparison · See true size

Laos is about 1.9 times smaller than Papua New Guinea.

Moving from Laos to Papua New Guinea · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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