Cost of living comparison

North Korea

compared to

Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek vs. P'yongyang Cost of Living Summary

Bishkek is 68.7% more expensive than P'yongyang.

Restaurants: pay 40.6% less in Bishkek
Groceries: pay 45.7% less in Bishkek
Housing: pay 5.6 times more in Bishkek
Entertainment and Sports: pay 44.3% less in Bishkek

Expenses including groceries, entertainment and sports, and restaurants are lower in Bishkek. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Bishkek.

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Bishkek vs. P'yongyang Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bishkek instead of P'yongyang, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 40.6% less for restaurants

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.81 KPW4,327	$6.86 KGS600.01	+42.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$21.26 KPW19,136	$5.83 KGS510.01	-72.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.21 KPW1,985	$0.74 KGS65.00	-66.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.28 KPW1,153	$0.39 KGS33.88	-69.8%
Average			-40.6%

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - Cost of restaurants

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pay 45.7% less for groceries

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Bread 1 loaf	$2.30 KPW2,071	$0.40 KGS34.67	-82.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	??	$3.82 KGS334.23
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.55 KPW3,195	$3.81 KGS333.12	+7.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.00 KPW1,798	$1.73 KGS151.13	-13.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	??	$2.08 KGS181.82
Apples (1 lb)	??	$0.63 KGS54.76
Bananas (1 lb)	??	$0.84 KGS73.57
Oranges (1 lb)	??	$0.93 KGS81.76
Tomatoes (1 lb)	??	$0.72 KGS62.84
Potatoes (1 lb)	??	$0.27 KGS23.90
Onions (1 lb)	??	$0.22 KGS19.28
Average			-45.7%

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - Cost of groceries

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pay (unknown) more for transportation

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Gasoline (1 gallon)	??	$3.74 KGS326.93
Monthly public transit pass	??	$11.66 KGS1,020.02
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$29,991.94 KGS3M
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$4.52 KGS395.01

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - Cost of transportation

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pay 5.6 times more for housing

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	??	$12.00 KGS1,049.18
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$89.58 KPW80,621	$603.19 KGS52,748.92	+573.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$89.58 KPW80,621	$416.93 KGS36,460.58	+365.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$38.42 KGS3,359.98
Average			+459.8%

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$219.56 KGS19,200.33
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$7,837.88 KGS685K

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - Cost of childcare

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pay 44.3% less for entertainment and sports

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$13.44 KPW12,093	$1.37 KGS120.00	-89.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.12 KPW1,008	$2.43 KGS212.36	+116.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$2.06 KGS180.00
Monthly membership at local gym	$75.02 KPW67,520	$54.84 KGS4,795.54	-26.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$5.72 KGS500.01
Average			-44.3%

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	P'yongyang	Bishkek
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$55.40 KGS4,844.53
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$43.07 KGS3,766.73
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$90.57 KGS7,920.14
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$90.22 KGS7,890.14

P'yongyang vs. Bishkek - 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

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