Cost of living comparison

compared to

Papua New Guinea vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 2.2 times more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 46.5% less in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 16.3% more in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 34.1% less in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 4.4 times more in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 66.2% more in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 5.1 times more in Papua New Guinea

The cost of clothing, housing, entertainment and sports, and groceries in Papua New Guinea are more expensive than in Sao Tome and Principe. Expenses including restaurants and transportation are lower in Papua New Guinea. Notably, clothing and housing are significantly more expensive in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of Sao Tome and Principe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 46.5% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$29.20 STD650,623	$17.87 PGK75.83	-38.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 STD260,249	$5.92 PGK25.13	-49.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92 STD42,768	$0.80 PGK3.41	-58.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 STD26,025	$0.70 PGK2.99	-39.7%
Average			-46.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 16.3% more for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 STD24,088	$1.55 PGK6.59	+43.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.22 STD227,718	$3.60 PGK15.29	-64.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.97 STD132,995	$7.76 PGK32.93	+30.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 STD113,503	$4.00 PGK16.99	-21.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$9.27 STD206,583	$3.63 PGK15.41	-60.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.12 STD47,219	$1.99 PGK8.44	-6.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 STD11,805	$1.32 PGK5.61	+149.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.85 STD41,316	$2.73 PGK11.60	+47.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.59 STD35,414	$1.62 PGK6.89	+2.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 STD26,561	$1.58 PGK6.71	+32.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 STD20,658	$1.18 PGK5.01	+27.4%
Average			+16.3%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 34.1% less for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.40 STD142,518	$4.22 PGK17.89	-34.1%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$23.69 PGK100.53
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$22,387.96 PGK94,999.61
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$24.88 PGK105.56
Average			-34.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.4 times more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42 STD1,613,544	$165.84 PGK703.70	+129.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$350.40 STD7,807,473	$2,652.44 PGK11,255.17	+657.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$233.60 STD5,204,982	$758.54 PGK3,218.75	+224.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$80.08 PGK339.79
Average			+336.9%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$631.76 PGK2,680.77
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$3,968.24 PGK16,838.56

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 66.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.67 STD37,216	$2.98 PGK12.63	+78.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.34 STD52,050	$2.56 PGK10.85	+9.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.34 STD52,050	$6.96 PGK29.52	+197.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.38 STD832,797	$73.52 PGK311.97	+96.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$21.02 STD468,448	$10.30 PGK43.71	-51.0%
Average			+66.2%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.1 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$31.15 PGK132.20
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$36.48 PGK154.81
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$76.40 PGK324.21
Men's business shoes (leather)	$19.16 STD426,809	$97.73 PGK414.68	+410.2%
Average			+410.2%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Papua New Guinea - 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: December 2025

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