Cost of living comparison

South Korea

compared to

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea vs. South Korea Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 11.8% more expensive than South Korea overall.

Restaurants: pay 8.8% less in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 18.7% less in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 1.1% less in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 73.1% more in Papua New Guinea
Childcare: pay 31.3% less in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 7.1% less in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 5.5% less in Papua New Guinea

Expenses including childcare, groceries, restaurants, entertainment and sports, clothing, and transportation are lower in Papua New Guinea.

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Papua New Guinea vs. South Korea Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of South Korea, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 8.8% less for restaurants

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.06 ₩9,422	$7.78 PGK35.37	+10.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.17 ₩8,230	$5.56 PGK25.27	-9.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.53 ₩2,039	$0.75 PGK3.41	-50.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.88 ₩1,181	$0.67 PGK3.03	-24.7%
Average			-8.8%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 18.7% less for groceries

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$3.04 ₩4,055	$1.52 PGK6.91	-50.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.12 ₩8,174	$4.32 PGK19.64	-29.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.23 ₩10,982	$7.10 PGK32.28	-13.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.94 ₩3,923	$3.69 PGK16.78	+25.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.11 ₩5,484	$2.58 PGK11.75	-37.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$4.00 ₩5,342	$1.95 PGK8.88	-51.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.55 ₩2,069	$1.44 PGK6.57	-6.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$3.00 ₩4,000	$3.29 PGK14.97	+9.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.63 ₩3,513	$2.92 PGK13.29	+11.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$2.03 ₩2,715	$1.51 PGK6.88	-25.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.26 ₩1,685	$1.31 PGK5.96	+3.8%
Average			-18.7%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 1.1% less for transportation

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 ₩6,685	$3.78 PGK17.18	-24.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$46.10 ₩61,538	$22.22 PGK101.06	-51.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,394.53 ₩38M	$50,004.77 PGK227K	+76.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.59 ₩11,470	$23.34 PGK106.12	+171.6%
Average			-1.1%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 73.1% more for housing

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$24.34 ₩32,490	$91.68 PGK416.89	+276.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$561.73 ₩750K	$1,603.86 PGK7,293.44	+185.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$387.83 ₩518K	$555.61 PGK2,526.59	+43.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$153.72 ₩205K	$89.65 PGK407.67	-41.7%
Average			+73.1%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay 31.3% less for childcare

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$545.93 ₩729K	$842.47 PGK3,831.07	+54.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$20,214.53 ₩27M	$6,176.41 PGK28,086.83	-69.4%
Average			-31.3%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 7.1% less for entertainment and sports

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.30 ₩4,403	$3.00 PGK13.64	-9.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.66 ₩4,888	$2.47 PGK11.24	-32.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.35 ₩4,467	$6.45 PGK29.31	+92.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$57.32 ₩76,507	$61.49 PGK279.61	+7.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.28 ₩15,062	$8.89 PGK40.43	-21.2%
Average			-7.1%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 5.5% less for clothing

	South Korea	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$67.53 ₩90,139	$32.73 PGK148.82	-51.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$53.43 ₩71,316	$31.67 PGK144.02	-40.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$78.10 ₩104K	$136.12 PGK619.02	+74.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$102.84 ₩137K	$163.90 PGK745.35	+59.4%
Average			-5.5%

South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea - 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: South Korea vs. Papua New Guinea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Papua New Guinea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 91.7% less money in Papua New Guinea

Size Comparison · See true size

South Korea is about 4.6 times smaller than Papua New Guinea.

Moving from South Korea to Papua New Guinea · UN DESA 2020

63 people born in South Korea live in Papua New Guinea.

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