Cost of living comparison

Sri Lanka

compared to

Bhutan

Bhutan vs. Sri Lanka Cost of Living Summary

Bhutan is 21.1% cheaper than Sri Lanka overall.

Restaurants: pay 10.4% less in Bhutan
Groceries: pay 21.6% less in Bhutan
Transportation: pay 18.2% less in Bhutan
Housing: pay 39.8% less in Bhutan
Childcare: pay 13.1% more in Bhutan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 20.9% more in Bhutan
Clothing: pay 14.2% more in Bhutan

The cost of entertainment and sports, clothing, and childcare in Bhutan are more expensive than in Sri Lanka. Expenses including housing, groceries, transportation, and restaurants are lower in Bhutan.

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Bhutan vs. Sri Lanka Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Bhutan instead of Sri Lanka, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 10.4% less for restaurants

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.19 LKR726.11	$2.58 BTN245.70	+17.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	$4.91 BTN466.83	-20.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.82 LKR270.87	$0.50 BTN47.50	-38.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.31 LKR101.62	$0.18 BTN17.20	-41.0%
Average			-10.4%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 21.6% less for groceries

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Bread 1 loaf	$0.50 LKR164.88	$1.07 BTN101.96	+115.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	$1.88 BTN178.54	-63.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	$3.03 BTN288.32	-39.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.59 LKR525.48	$1.88 BTN178.87	+18.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.92 LKR637.54	$1.79 BTN170.51	-6.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.39 LKR790.19	$1.15 BTN109.22	-51.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.33 LKR110.92	$0.69 BTN65.75	+106.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 LKR546.03	$0.73 BTN69.10	-55.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 LKR195.36	$0.33 BTN31.76	-43.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.45 LKR150.14	$0.26 BTN24.52	-43.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 LKR113.13	$0.31 BTN29.53	-9.0%
Average			-21.6%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - Cost of groceries

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pay 18.2% less for transportation

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	$2.79 BTN264.82	-41.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	$5.17 BTN491.40	+5.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,619.96 LKR10M	$16,591.53 BTN2M	-44.0%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$2.96 LKR979.01	$13.18 BTN1,253.06	+346.0%
Average			-18.2%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - Cost of transportation

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pay 39.8% less for housing

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	$24.17 BTN2,297.69	+48.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	$127.00 BTN12,071.65	-49.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	$86.02 BTN8,176.19	-40.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	$25.81 BTN2,452.87	-27.9%
Average			-39.8%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - Cost of housing

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pay 13.1% more for childcare

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	$44.98 BTN4,275.09	+60.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$711.79 LKR236K	$568.68 BTN54,053.67	-20.1%
Average			+13.1%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - Cost of childcare

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pay 20.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.16 LKR714.17	$2.58 BTN245.70	+19.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.16 LKR713.82	$1.28 BTN121.21	-40.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	$3.88 BTN368.55	-60.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	$46.53 BTN4,422.57	+381.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	$3.10 BTN294.84	-14.8%
Average			+20.9%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 14.2% more for clothing

	Sri Lanka	Bhutan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	$49.97 BTN4,750.10	+129.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	$24.99 BTN2,375.05	+90.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	$67.21 BTN6,388.16	-6.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	$13.96 BTN1,326.77	-58.5%
Average			+14.2%

Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan - 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: Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Bhutan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Be 67.2% more likely to have internet access in Bhutan

Size Comparison · See true size

Sri Lanka is about 1.7 times bigger than Bhutan.

Moving from Sri Lanka to Bhutan · UN DESA 2020

33 people born in Sri Lanka live in Bhutan.

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