Cost of living comparison

South Korea

compared to

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka vs. South Korea Cost of Living Summary

Sri Lanka is 62.8% cheaper than South Korea overall.

Restaurants: pay 50.0% less in Sri Lanka
Groceries: pay 62.6% less in Sri Lanka
Transportation: pay 48.8% less in Sri Lanka
Housing: pay 61.6% less in Sri Lanka
Childcare: pay 95.7% less in Sri Lanka
Entertainment and Sports: pay 55.5% less in Sri Lanka
Clothing: pay 60.7% less in Sri Lanka

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

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Sri Lanka vs. South Korea Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sri Lanka instead of South Korea, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 50.0% less for restaurants

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.06 ₩9,422	$2.19 LKR726.11	-68.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.17 ₩8,230	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	+0.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.53 ₩2,039	$0.82 LKR270.87	-46.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.88 ₩1,181	$0.31 LKR101.62	-65.3%
Average			-50.0%

South Korea vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of restaurants

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pay 62.6% less for groceries

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Bread 1 loaf	$3.04 ₩4,055	$0.50 LKR164.88	-83.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.12 ₩8,174	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	-16.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.23 ₩10,982	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	-39.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.94 ₩3,923	$1.59 LKR525.48	-46.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.11 ₩5,484	$1.92 LKR637.54	-53.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$4.00 ₩5,342	$2.39 LKR790.19	-40.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.55 ₩2,069	$0.33 LKR110.92	-78.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$3.00 ₩4,000	$1.65 LKR546.03	-45.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.63 ₩3,513	$0.59 LKR195.36	-77.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$2.03 ₩2,715	$0.45 LKR150.14	-77.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.26 ₩1,685	$0.34 LKR113.13	-72.9%
Average			-62.6%

South Korea vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of groceries

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pay 48.8% less for transportation

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.01 ₩6,685	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	-4.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$46.10 ₩61,538	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	-89.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,394.53 ₩38M	$29,619.96 LKR10M	+4.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.59 ₩11,470	$2.96 LKR979.01	-65.6%
Average			-48.8%

South Korea vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of transportation

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pay 61.6% less for housing

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$24.34 ₩32,490	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	-33.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$561.73 ₩750K	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	-55.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$387.83 ₩518K	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	-62.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$153.72 ₩205K	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	-76.7%
Average			-61.6%

South Korea vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of housing

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pay 95.7% less for childcare

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$545.93 ₩729K	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	-94.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$20,214.53 ₩27M	$711.79 LKR236K	-96.5%
Average			-95.7%

South Korea vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of childcare

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pay 55.5% less for entertainment and sports

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.30 ₩4,403	$2.16 LKR714.17	-34.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.66 ₩4,888	$2.16 LKR713.82	-41.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.35 ₩4,467	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	+196.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$57.32 ₩76,507	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	-83.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$11.28 ₩15,062	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	-67.7%
Average			-55.5%

South Korea vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 60.7% less for clothing

	South Korea	Sri Lanka
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$67.53 ₩90,139	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	-67.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$53.43 ₩71,316	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	-75.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$78.10 ₩104K	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	-8.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$102.84 ₩137K	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	-67.3%
Average			-60.7%

South Korea 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: South Korea vs. Sri Lanka

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Sri Lanka?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Make 86.2% less money in Sri Lanka

Size Comparison · See true size

South Korea is about 1.5 times bigger than Sri Lanka.

Moving from South Korea to Sri Lanka · UN DESA 2020

611 people born in South Korea live in Sri Lanka.

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