Cost of living comparison

Papua New Guinea

compared to

Maldives

Maldives vs. Papua New Guinea Cost of Living Summary

Maldives is 13.9% cheaper than Papua New Guinea overall.

Restaurants: pay 7.3% more in Maldives
Groceries: pay 29.5% less in Maldives
Transportation: pay 7.1% less in Maldives
Housing: pay 7.4% less in Maldives
Childcare: pay 67.3% less in Maldives
Entertainment and Sports: pay 35.6% more in Maldives
Clothing: pay 21.1% less in Maldives

The cost of entertainment and sports and restaurants in Maldives are more expensive than in Papua New Guinea. Expenses including childcare, groceries, clothing, housing, and transportation are lower in Maldives.

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Maldives vs. Papua New Guinea Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 7.3% more for restaurants

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.78 PGK35.36	$6.00 MVR92.74	-22.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.56 PGK25.25	$9.57 MVR147.88	+72.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 PGK3.41	$1.63 MVR25.12	+116.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.67 PGK3.03	$0.30 MVR4.59	-55.4%
Average			+7.3%

Papua New Guinea vs. Maldives - Cost of restaurants

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pay 29.5% less for groceries

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Bread 1 loaf	$1.52 PGK6.91	$1.65 MVR25.57	+8.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.32 PGK19.63	$3.48 MVR53.75	-19.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.10 PGK32.26	$6.83 MVR105.52	-3.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.69 PGK16.78	$1.87 MVR28.89	-49.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.58 PGK11.74	$2.76 MVR42.72	+7.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.95 PGK8.88	$1.80 MVR27.83	-7.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.44 PGK6.57	$1.39 MVR21.40	-4.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$3.29 PGK14.97	$1.59 MVR24.56	-51.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.92 PGK13.29	$1.22 MVR18.83	-58.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.51 PGK6.87	$0.75 MVR11.63	-50.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.31 PGK5.96	$0.69 MVR10.63	-47.5%
Average			-29.5%

Papua New Guinea vs. Maldives - Cost of groceries

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pay 7.1% less for transportation

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.78 PGK17.17	$3.81 MVR58.81	+0.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$22.22 PGK101.02	$30.82 MVR476.23	+38.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$50,004.77 PGK227K	$32,446.46 MVR501K	-35.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$23.34 PGK106.07	$17.52 MVR270.70	-24.9%
Average			-7.1%

Papua New Guinea vs. Maldives - Cost of transportation

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pay 7.4% less for housing

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$91.68 PGK416.69	$73.00 MVR1,127.92	-20.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,603.86 PGK7,289.93	$1,043.39 MVR16,120.31	-34.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$555.61 PGK2,525.38	$739.32 MVR11,422.43	+33.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$89.65 PGK407.48	$85.19 MVR1,316.15	-5.0%
Average			-7.4%

Papua New Guinea vs. Maldives - Cost of housing

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pay 67.3% less for childcare

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$842.47 PGK3,829.23	$184.92 MVR2,857.02	-78.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,176.41 PGK28,073.34	$3,003.87 MVR46,409.85	-51.4%
Average			-67.3%

Papua New Guinea vs. Maldives - Cost of childcare

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pay 35.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.00 PGK13.64	$4.87 MVR75.19	+62.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.47 PGK11.24	$3.55 MVR54.82	+43.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.45 PGK29.29	$13.95 MVR215.56	+116.5%
Monthly membership at local gym	$61.49 PGK279.48	$70.81 MVR1,093.98	+15.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.89 PGK40.41	$9.73 MVR150.39	+9.5%
Average			+35.6%

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

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pay 21.1% less for clothing

	Papua New Guinea	Maldives
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$32.73 PGK148.74	$39.51 MVR610.41	+20.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$31.67 PGK143.95	$49.63 MVR766.77	+56.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$136.12 PGK618.72	$87.11 MVR1,345.89	-36.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$163.90 PGK744.99	$52.50 MVR811.17	-68.0%
Average			-21.1%

Papua New Guinea 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: Papua New Guinea vs. Maldives

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 23 statistics

Be 4.9 times more likely to have access to electricity in Maldives

Size Comparison · See true size

Papua New Guinea is about 1,553 times bigger than Maldives.

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

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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