Cost of living comparison

Lesotho

compared to

Maldives

Maldives vs. Lesotho Cost of Living Summary

Maldives is 2.7 times more expensive than Lesotho overall.

Restaurants: pay 18.1% less in Maldives
Groceries: pay 29.1% more in Maldives
Transportation: pay 16.1% more in Maldives
Housing: pay 10.9 times more in Maldives
Childcare: pay 3.0 times more in Maldives
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.5 times more in Maldives
Clothing: pay 31.2% less in Maldives

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

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Maldives vs. Lesotho Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 18.1% less for restaurants

	Lesotho	Maldives
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$9.01 LSL150.02	$6.00 MVR92.74	-33.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.41 LSL140.02	$9.57 MVR147.88	+13.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.07 LSL17.75	$1.63 MVR25.12	+52.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.84 LSL14.00	$0.30 MVR4.59	-64.7%
Average			-18.1%

Lesotho vs. Maldives - Cost of restaurants

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pay 29.1% more for groceries

	Lesotho	Maldives
Bread 1 loaf	$0.83 LSL13.75	$1.65 MVR25.57	+100.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.30 LSL54.99	$3.48 MVR53.75	+5.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.38 LSL72.87	$6.83 MVR105.52	+56.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.54 LSL25.60	$1.87 MVR28.89	+21.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.79 LSL46.49	$2.76 MVR42.72	-1.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.85 LSL14.18	$1.80 MVR27.83	+111.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.02 LSL16.90	$1.39 MVR21.40	+36.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.23 LSL20.41	$1.59 MVR24.56	+29.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.09 LSL18.14	$1.22 MVR18.83	+11.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.71 LSL11.79	$0.75 MVR11.63	+6.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.73 LSL12.13	$0.69 MVR10.63	-5.6%
Average			+29.1%

Lesotho vs. Maldives - Cost of groceries

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pay 16.1% more for transportation

	Lesotho	Maldives
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.98 LSL82.84	$3.81 MVR58.81	-23.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.04 LSL500.07	$30.82 MVR476.23	+2.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$21,030.86 LSL350K	$32,446.46 MVR501K	+54.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.01 LSL100.01	$17.52 MVR270.70	+191.6%
Average			+16.1%

Lesotho vs. Maldives - Cost of transportation

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pay 10.9 times more for housing

	Lesotho	Maldives
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$38.30 LSL637.51	$73.00 MVR1,127.92	+90.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$93.14 LSL1,550.22	$1,043.39 MVR16,120.31	+1020.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$55.58 LSL925.13	$739.32 MVR11,422.43	+1230.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$85.19 MVR1,316.15
Average			+994.4%

Lesotho vs. Maldives - Cost of housing

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pay 3.0 times more for childcare

	Lesotho	Maldives
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$52.06 LSL866.55	$184.92 MVR2,857.02	+255.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$1,181.73 LSL19,669.42	$3,003.87 MVR46,409.85	+154.2%
Average			+200.5%

Lesotho vs. Maldives - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.5 times more for entertainment and sports

	Lesotho	Maldives
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.80 LSL30.00	$4.87 MVR75.19	+170.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 LSL33.34	$3.55 MVR54.82	+77.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.11 LSL85.01	$13.95 MVR215.56	+173.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$23.03 LSL383.39	$70.81 MVR1,093.98	+207.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$9.73 MVR150.39
Average			+152.4%

Lesotho vs. Maldives - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 31.2% less for clothing

	Lesotho	Maldives
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$46.07 LSL766.77	$39.51 MVR610.41	-14.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$55.58 LSL925.13	$49.63 MVR766.77	-10.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$104.15 LSL1,733.58	$87.11 MVR1,345.89	-16.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$150.22 LSL2,500.35	$52.50 MVR811.17	-65.0%
Average			-31.2%

Lesotho 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: Lesotho vs. Maldives

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Maldives?

Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Make 13.4 times more money in Maldives

Size Comparison · See true size

Lesotho is about 102 times bigger than Maldives.

Moving from Lesotho to Maldives · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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