Cost of living comparison

Somalia

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Somalia Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 2.5 times more expensive than Somalia overall.

Restaurants: pay 39.4% more in Japan
Groceries: pay 47.3% more in Japan
Transportation: pay 2.3 times more in Japan
Housing: pay 3.3 times more in Japan
Childcare: pay 13.3 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 93.7% more in Japan
Clothing: pay 2.9 times more in Japan

The cost of childcare, housing, clothing, transportation, entertainment and sports, and groceries in Japan are more expensive than in Somalia. Notably, childcare, housing, and clothing are significantly more expensive in Japan.

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Japan vs. Somalia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of Somalia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 39.4% more for restaurants

	Somalia	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.33 SOS1,908	$6.75 ¥1,066	+102.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.00 SOS2,862	$5.10 ¥805	+2.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.04 SOS595	$1.13 ¥179	+9.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 SOS437	$0.76 ¥120	-0.9%
Average			+39.4%

Somalia vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 47.3% more for groceries

	Somalia	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$1.35 SOS775	$1.53 ¥241	+12.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.50 SOS1,431	$5.55 ¥877	+122.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.02 SOS4,020	$5.56 ¥879	-20.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.18 SOS1,250	$2.01 ¥318	-7.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.02 SOS1,157	$2.85 ¥450	+40.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 SOS671	$2.16 ¥342	+84.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83 SOS476	$1.08 ¥171	+30.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13 SOS649	$1.54 ¥243	+35.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 SOS335	$1.92 ¥303	+227.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 SOS357	$1.10 ¥174	+76.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SOS422	$1.08 ¥170	+45.9%
Average			+47.3%

Somalia vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.3 times more for transportation

	Somalia	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.57 SOS2,041	$4.11 ¥649	+15.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$12.17 SOS6,968	$63.20 ¥9,986	+419.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$10,000.00 SOS6M	$21,047.50 ¥3M	+110.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.78 SOS3,882	$24.65 ¥3,895	+263.3%
Average			+125.6%

Somalia vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.3 times more for housing

	Somalia	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.56 SOS22,639	$33.54 ¥5,300	-15.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$143.33 SOS82,036	$546.58 ¥86,367	+281.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$77.50 SOS44,357	$360.78 ¥57,008	+365.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$78.38 SOS44,862	$113.26 ¥17,897	+44.5%
Average			+231.2%

Somalia vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 13.3 times more for childcare

	Somalia	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$51.67 SOS29,571	$417.01 ¥65,893	+707.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$515.00 SOS295K	$11,300.14 ¥2M	+2094.2%
Average			+1230.8%

Somalia vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 93.7% more for entertainment and sports

	Somalia	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	??	$2.57 ¥406
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.67 SOS954	$3.06 ¥483	+83.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.00 SOS572	$3.83 ¥605	+282.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.58 SOS19,794	$53.31 ¥8,424	+54.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$11.73 ¥1,853
Average			+93.7%

Somalia vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.9 times more for clothing

	Somalia	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$12.50 SOS7,154	$46.32 ¥7,320	+270.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.33 SOS9,348	$31.33 ¥4,950	+91.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$18.50 SOS10,588	$59.45 ¥9,394	+221.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$25.83 SOS14,786	$81.04 ¥12,805	+213.7%
Average			+190.9%

Somalia vs. Japan - 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: Somalia vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Make 54.4 times more money in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

Somalia is about 1.7 times bigger than Japan.

Moving from Somalia to Japan · OECD 2023

34 people moved from Somalia to Japan.

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