Cost of living comparison

Sao Tome and Principe

compared to

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

Sri Lanka is 46.2% cheaper than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 60.9% less in Sri Lanka
Groceries: pay 51.1% less in Sri Lanka
Transportation: pay 28.5% less in Sri Lanka
Housing: pay 38.1% less in Sri Lanka
Childcare: pay 80.0% less in Sri Lanka
Entertainment and Sports: pay 42.6% less in Sri Lanka
Clothing: pay 43.4% less in Sri Lanka

Expenses including childcare, restaurants, groceries, clothing, entertainment and sports, and housing are lower in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sri Lanka instead of Sao Tome and Principe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 60.9% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.96 STD200K	$2.19 LKR726.11	-75.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.89 STD176K	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	-21.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.84 STD41,004	$0.82 LKR270.87	-55.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.25 STD27,770	$0.31 LKR101.62	-75.4%
Average			-60.9%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of restaurants

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pay 51.1% less for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 STD22,187	$0.50 LKR164.88	-50.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.80 STD218K	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	-47.9%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.87 STD131K	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	-14.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.85 STD108K	$1.59 LKR525.48	-67.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$8.89 STD198K	$1.92 LKR637.54	-78.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 STD37,881	$2.39 LKR790.19	+40.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.79 STD17,644	$0.33 LKR110.92	-57.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.63 STD36,419	$1.65 LKR546.03	+0.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.57 STD34,958	$0.59 LKR195.36	-62.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.31 STD29,299	$0.45 LKR150.14	-65.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.08 STD23,986	$0.34 LKR113.13	-68.3%
Average			-51.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of groceries

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pay 28.5% less for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.46 STD144K	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	-25.8%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$4.92 LKR1,628.00
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$24,634.18 STD549M	$29,619.96 LKR10M	+20.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.43 STD500K	$2.96 LKR979.01	-86.8%
Average			-28.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of transportation

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pay 38.1% less for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.91 STD1M	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	-75.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$284.91 STD6M	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	-11.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$195.02 STD4M	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	-26.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$174.83 STD4M	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	-79.5%
Average			-38.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of housing

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pay 80.0% less for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$228.62 STD5M	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	-87.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,194.77 STD49M	$711.79 LKR236K	-67.6%
Average			-80.0%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of childcare

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pay 42.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.70 STD37,799	$2.16 LKR714.17	+27.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.26 STD50,442	$2.16 LKR713.82	-4.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.26 STD50,420	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	+338.1%
Monthly membership at local gym	$33.92 STD756K	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	-71.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$20.16 STD449K	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	-81.9%
Average			-42.6%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 43.4% less for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Sri Lanka
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$21.76 LKR7,207.45
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$75.02 STD2M	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	-82.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$71.61 LKR23,716.18
Men's business shoes (leather)	$18.36 STD409K	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	+83.0%
Average			-43.4%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka - 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: Sao Tome and Principe vs. Sri Lanka

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Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Be 74.2% less likely to live below the poverty line in Sri Lanka

Size Comparison · See true size

Sao Tome and Principe is about 68 times smaller than Sri Lanka.

Moving from Sao Tome and Principe to Sri Lanka · Cost, visas & climate

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