Cost of living comparison

Malaysia

compared to

Romania

Romania vs. Malaysia Cost of Living Summary

Romania is 16.0% more expensive than Malaysia overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.3 times more in Romania
Groceries: pay 21.5% less in Romania
Transportation: pay 33.4% more in Romania
Housing: pay 14.5% more in Romania
Childcare: pay 36.0% more in Romania
Entertainment and Sports: pay 0.4% more in Romania
Clothing: pay 7.7% more in Romania

The cost of restaurants, childcare, transportation, housing, clothing, and entertainment and sports in Romania are more expensive than in Malaysia. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in Romania.

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Romania vs. Malaysia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Romania instead of Malaysia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.3 times more for restaurants

	Malaysia	Romania
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.42 MYR13.98	$9.82 RON46.44	+186.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.64 MYR18.95	$7.22 RON34.13	+55.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 MYR3.07	$1.87 RON8.86	+149.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.42 MYR1.72	$1.57 RON7.43	+272.4%
Average			+134.3%

Malaysia vs. Romania - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.5% less for groceries

	Malaysia	Romania
Bread 1 loaf	$1.10 MYR4.49	$1.10 RON5.19	-0.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.94 MYR28.32	$3.76 RON17.78	-45.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.18 MYR29.31	$5.36 RON25.36	-25.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.09 MYR8.53	$2.91 RON13.77	+39.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.90 MYR7.75	$2.69 RON12.72	+41.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.35 MYR5.53	$0.51 RON2.42	-62.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 MYR2.97	$0.67 RON3.18	-7.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.19 MYR4.84	$0.65 RON3.08	-45.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.69 MYR2.83	$0.89 RON4.19	+27.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.57 MYR2.34	$0.35 RON1.66	-38.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.61 MYR2.50	$0.36 RON1.70	-41.1%
Average			-21.5%

Malaysia vs. Romania - Cost of groceries

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pay 33.4% more for transportation

	Malaysia	Romania
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.76 MYR11.29	$6.55 RON30.98	+136.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$15.28 MYR62.39	$23.38 RON110.58	+53.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$40,802.19 MYR167K	$27,083.66 RON128K	-33.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.46 MYR26.37	$6.64 RON31.43	+2.9%
Average			+33.4%

Malaysia vs. Romania - Cost of transportation

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pay 14.5% more for housing

	Malaysia	Romania
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$27.60 MYR112.71	$8.56 RON40.50	-69.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$363.41 MYR1,483.90	$371.73 RON1,758.50	+2.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$265.07 MYR1,082.35	$281.26 RON1,330.53	+6.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$36.69 MYR149.79	$107.14 RON506.84	+192.0%
Average			+14.5%

Malaysia vs. Romania - Cost of housing

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pay 36.0% more for childcare

	Malaysia	Romania
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$231.07 MYR943.51	$482.75 RON2,283.68	+108.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,043.53 MYR32,843.35	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	-11.4%
Average			+36.0%

Malaysia vs. Romania - Cost of childcare

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pay 0.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Malaysia	Romania
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.61 MYR14.73	$2.18 RON10.31	-39.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.76 MYR11.29	$2.45 RON11.57	-11.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.35 MYR17.74	$5.71 RON27.03	+31.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$38.82 MYR158.52	$38.73 RON183.19	-0.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.73 MYR19.31	$7.13 RON33.75	+50.9%
Average			+0.4%

Malaysia vs. Romania - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 7.7% more for clothing

	Malaysia	Romania
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$58.43 MYR238.60	$62.00 RON293.30	+6.1%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$30.42 MYR124.22	$35.53 RON168.09	+16.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.72 MYR317.35	$77.18 RON365.11	-0.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.79 MYR317.65	$85.19 RON402.98	+9.5%
Average			+7.7%

Malaysia vs. Romania - 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: Malaysia vs. Romania

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Romania?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 3.6 times more likely to live below the poverty line in Romania

Size Comparison · See true size

Malaysia is about 1.4 times bigger than Romania.

Moving from Malaysia to Romania · UN DESA 2020

67 people born in Malaysia live in Romania.

City Size Comparison · See true size

Compare the size of Kuala Lumpur vs Bucharest

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