Cost of living comparison

Papua New Guinea

compared to

Vanuatu

Vanuatu vs. Papua New Guinea Cost of Living Summary

Vanuatu is 62.9% more expensive than Papua New Guinea overall.

Restaurants: pay 2.1 times more in Vanuatu
Groceries: pay 40.7% more in Vanuatu
Transportation: pay 47.0% more in Vanuatu
Housing: pay 2.2 times more in Vanuatu
Childcare: pay 34.5% more in Vanuatu
Entertainment and Sports: pay 46.0% more in Vanuatu
Clothing: pay 45.1% more in Vanuatu

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

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Vanuatu vs. Papua New Guinea Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 2.1 times more for restaurants

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.87 PGK80.76	$12.52 VUV1,483	-29.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.92 PGK26.76	$9.56 VUV1,132	+61.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.80 PGK3.63	$2.55 VUV302	+217.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.70 PGK3.18	$1.93 VUV228	+173.7%
Average			+105.7%

Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu - Cost of restaurants

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pay 40.7% more for groceries

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Bread 1 loaf	$1.55 PGK7.02	$2.54 VUV301	+63.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$3.60 PGK16.28	$10.02 VUV1,186	+178.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.76 PGK35.07	$9.06 VUV1,073	+16.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.00 PGK18.09	$5.26 VUV623	+31.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.63 PGK16.41	$8.33 VUV987	+129.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.99 PGK8.99	$2.11 VUV250	+6.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.32 PGK5.97	$0.88 VUV105	-33.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.73 PGK12.35	$2.73 VUV323	-0.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.62 PGK7.34	$2.46 VUV291	+51.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.58 PGK7.14	$1.96 VUV233	+24.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.18 PGK5.34	$0.95 VUV113	-19.2%
Average			+40.7%

Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu - Cost of groceries

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pay 47.0% more for transportation

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.22 PGK19.06	$7.11 VUV842	+68.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$23.69 PGK107.06	$66.78 VUV7,909	+181.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$22,387.96 PGK101K	$22,956.84 VUV3M	+2.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$24.88 PGK112.41	$8.77 VUV1,038	-64.8%
Average			+47.0%

Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.2 times more for housing

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$165.84 PGK749.39	$226.79 VUV26,858	+36.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$2,652.44 PGK11,985.96	$1,906.11 VUV226K	-28.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$758.54 PGK3,427.74	$1,278.71 VUV151K	+68.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$80.08 PGK361.85	$406.43 VUV48,134	+407.6%
Average			+121.2%

Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu - Cost of housing

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pay 34.5% more for childcare

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$631.76 PGK2,854.82	$617.75 VUV73,160	-2.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$3,968.24 PGK17,931.87	$6,795.22 VUV805K	+71.2%
Average			+34.5%

Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu - Cost of childcare

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pay 46.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.98 PGK13.45	$4.81 VUV570	+61.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.56 PGK11.56	$5.70 VUV675	+122.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.96 PGK31.44	$9.18 VUV1,088	+32.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$73.52 PGK332.23	$67.52 VUV7,996	-8.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.30 PGK46.54	$12.52 VUV1,483	+21.6%
Average			+46.0%

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

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pay 45.1% more for clothing

	Papua New Guinea	Vanuatu
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$31.15 PGK140.78	$33.39 VUV3,955	+7.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$36.48 PGK164.87	$66.78 VUV7,909	+83.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$76.40 PGK345.26	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$97.73 PGK441.61	??
Average			+45.1%

Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: October 2026

Compare further: Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 13 statistics

Be 3.7 times more likely to have access to electricity in Vanuatu

Size Comparison · See true size

Papua New Guinea is about 38 times bigger than Vanuatu.

Moving from Papua New Guinea to Vanuatu · UN DESA 2020

68 people born in Papua New Guinea live in Vanuatu.

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