Cost of living comparison

Somalia

compared to

South Korea

South Korea vs. Somalia Cost of Living Summary

South Korea is 2.9 times more expensive than Somalia overall.

Restaurants: pay 59.1% more in South Korea
Groceries: pay 2.2 times more in South Korea
Transportation: pay 2.2 times more in South Korea
Housing: pay 3.6 times more in South Korea
Childcare: pay 20.4 times more in South Korea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.1 times more in South Korea
Clothing: pay 4.2 times more in South Korea

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

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South Korea vs. Somalia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in South Korea instead of Somalia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 59.1% more for restaurants

	Somalia	South Korea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.33 SOS1,908	$7.06 ₩9,422	+111.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.00 SOS2,862	$6.17 ₩8,230	+23.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.04 SOS595	$1.53 ₩2,039	+47.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 SOS437	$0.88 ₩1,181	+15.9%
Average			+59.1%

Somalia vs. South Korea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.2 times more for groceries

	Somalia	South Korea
Bread 1 loaf	$1.35 SOS775	$3.04 ₩4,055	+124.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.50 SOS1,431	$6.12 ₩8,174	+145.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.02 SOS4,020	$8.23 ₩10,982	+17.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.18 SOS1,250	$2.94 ₩3,923	+34.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.02 SOS1,157	$4.11 ₩5,484	+103.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 SOS671	$4.00 ₩5,342	+241.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83 SOS476	$1.55 ₩2,069	+86.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13 SOS649	$3.00 ₩4,000	+164.2%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 SOS335	$2.63 ₩3,513	+349.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 SOS357	$2.03 ₩2,715	+226.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SOS422	$1.26 ₩1,685	+71.3%
Average			+124.9%

Somalia vs. South Korea - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.2 times more for transportation

	Somalia	South Korea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.57 SOS2,041	$5.01 ₩6,685	+40.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$12.17 SOS6,968	$46.10 ₩61,538	+278.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$10,000.00 SOS6M	$28,394.53 ₩38M	+183.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.78 SOS3,882	$8.59 ₩11,470	+26.7%
Average			+120.0%

Somalia vs. South Korea - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.6 times more for housing

	Somalia	South Korea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.56 SOS22,639	$24.34 ₩32,490	-38.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$143.33 SOS82,036	$561.73 ₩750K	+291.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$77.50 SOS44,357	$387.83 ₩518K	+400.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$78.38 SOS44,862	$153.72 ₩205K	+96.1%
Average			+255.1%

Somalia vs. South Korea - Cost of housing

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pay 20.4 times more for childcare

	Somalia	South Korea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$51.67 SOS29,571	$545.93 ₩729K	+956.6%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$515.00 SOS295K	$20,214.53 ₩27M	+3825.2%
Average			+1936.5%

Somalia vs. South Korea - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports

	Somalia	South Korea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	??	$3.30 ₩4,403
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.67 SOS954	$3.66 ₩4,888	+119.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.00 SOS572	$3.35 ₩4,467	+234.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.58 SOS19,794	$57.32 ₩76,507	+65.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$11.28 ₩15,062
Average			+108.7%

Somalia vs. South Korea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.2 times more for clothing

	Somalia	South Korea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$12.50 SOS7,154	$67.53 ₩90,139	+440.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.33 SOS9,348	$53.43 ₩71,316	+227.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$18.50 SOS10,588	$78.10 ₩104K	+322.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$25.83 SOS14,786	$102.84 ₩137K	+298.1%
Average			+315.1%

Somalia vs. South Korea - 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. South Korea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in South Korea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 54.8 times more money in South Korea

Size Comparison · See true size

Somalia is about 6 times bigger than South Korea.

Moving from Somalia to South Korea · OECD 2023

12 people moved from Somalia to South Korea.

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