Cost of living comparison

Rwanda

compared to

Ethiopia

Ethiopia vs. Rwanda Cost of Living Summary

Ethiopia is 26.1% more expensive than Rwanda overall.

Restaurants: pay 16.4% more in Ethiopia
Groceries: pay 28.0% more in Ethiopia
Transportation: pay 20.6% less in Ethiopia
Housing: pay 28.9% more in Ethiopia
Childcare: pay 95.8% more in Ethiopia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 4.8% more in Ethiopia
Clothing: pay 2.9 times more in Ethiopia

The cost of clothing, childcare, housing, groceries, restaurants, and entertainment and sports in Ethiopia are more expensive than in Rwanda. Notably, clothing and childcare are significantly more expensive in Ethiopia.

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Ethiopia vs. Rwanda Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Ethiopia instead of Rwanda, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 16.4% more for restaurants

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.71 RWF4,005	$4.00 ETB654.34	+47.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.77 RWF10,013	$6.50 ETB1,063.31	-4.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.78 RWF1,155	$0.61 ETB99.06	-22.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.56 RWF826	$0.66 ETB107.50	+17.6%
Average			+16.4%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 28.0% more for groceries

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.05 RWF1,548	$1.19 ETB194.58	+13.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.11 RWF3,115	$3.70 ETB604.57	+75.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.16 RWF4,675	$4.09 ETB669.40	+29.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.63 RWF2,412	$1.77 ETB289.63	+8.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.08 RWF3,078	$4.59 ETB750.34	+120.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.09 RWF1,618	$2.44 ETB399.44	+123.1%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.35 RWF522	$0.30 ETB48.73	-15.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 RWF1,019	$0.99 ETB161.65	+43.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.48 RWF707	$0.31 ETB50.42	-35.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.23 RWF333	$0.22 ETB35.99	-2.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RWF499	$0.49 ETB79.77	+44.4%
Average			+28.0%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - Cost of groceries

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pay 20.6% less for transportation

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.00 RWF10,345	$3.53 ETB577.22	-49.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$25.40 RWF37,550	$21.11 ETB3,453.30	-16.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,080.15 RWF39M	$55,000.00 ETB9M	+110.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.97 RWF28,037	$3.53 ETB576.64	-81.4%
Average			-20.6%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - Cost of transportation

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pay 28.9% more for housing

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$21.00 RWF31,041	$212.33 ETB34,734.76	+911.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$666.07 RWF985K	$706.95 ETB116K	+6.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$413.79 RWF612K	$394.55 ETB64,542.82	-4.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$64.32 RWF95,077	$156.76 ETB25,644.51	+143.7%
Average			+28.9%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - Cost of housing

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pay 95.8% more for childcare

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$112.90 RWF167K	$136.41 ETB22,314.75	+20.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,510.48 RWF14M	$30,187.50 ETB5M	+217.4%
Average			+95.8%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - Cost of childcare

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pay 4.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.02 RWF1,502	$0.80 ETB130.87	-21.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.42 RWF3,578	$0.92 ETB150.32	-62.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.03 RWF3,004	$8.00 ETB1,308.69	+293.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$26.72 RWF39,497	$44.15 ETB7,221.55	+65.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.39 RWF5,007	$3.75 ETB613.45	+10.7%
Average			+4.8%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.9 times more for clothing

	Rwanda	Ethiopia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$17.39 RWF25,701	$33.14 ETB5,421.12	+90.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.58 RWF23,031	$70.86 ETB11,591.24	+354.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$22.24 RWF32,877	$78.65 ETB12,865.68	+253.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.87 RWF50,067	$82.70 ETB13,529.26	+144.2%
Average			+194.1%

Rwanda vs. Ethiopia - 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: Rwanda vs. Ethiopia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Ethiopia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Be 70.8% less likely to be unemployed in Ethiopia

Size Comparison · See true size

Rwanda is about 42 times smaller than Ethiopia.

Moving from Rwanda to Ethiopia · UN DESA 2020

138 people born in Rwanda live in Ethiopia.

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