Cost of living comparison

Sri Lanka

compared to

Laos

Laos vs. Sri Lanka Cost of Living Summary

Laos is 2.1 times more expensive than Sri Lanka overall.

Restaurants: pay 0.7% less in Laos
Groceries: pay 26.6% more in Laos
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Laos
Housing: pay 3.2 times more in Laos
Childcare: pay 14.7 times more in Laos
Entertainment and Sports: pay 13.8% more in Laos
Clothing: pay 90.3% more in Laos

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

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Laos vs. Sri Lanka Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 0.7% less for restaurants

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.19 LKR726.11	$2.23 LAK50,211	+1.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	$5.35 LAK121K	-13.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.82 LKR270.87	$0.79 LAK17,779	-3.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.31 LKR101.62	$0.46 LAK10,439	+51.0%
Average			-0.7%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - Cost of restaurants

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pay 26.6% more for groceries

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Bread 1 loaf	$0.50 LKR164.88	$1.14 LAK25,737	+129.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	$12.87 LAK290K	+152.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	$6.94 LAK156K	+38.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.59 LKR525.48	$1.87 LAK42,101	+17.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.92 LKR637.54	$2.81 LAK63,330	+46.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.39 LKR790.19	$0.84 LAK18,975	-64.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.33 LKR110.92	$0.52 LAK11,662	+54.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 LKR546.03	$1.19 LAK26,832	-27.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 LKR195.36	$0.69 LAK15,639	+17.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.45 LKR150.14	$0.66 LAK14,918	+46.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 LKR113.13	$0.49 LAK10,995	+42.8%
Average			+26.6%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	$5.01 LAK113K	+4.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	$52.98 LAK1M	+977.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,619.96 LKR10M	$27,872.00 LAK628M	-5.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$2.96 LKR979.01	$9.14 LAK206K	+209.1%
Average			+102.4%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - Cost of transportation

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pay 3.2 times more for housing

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	$9.51 LAK214K	-41.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	$885.68 LAK20M	+252.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	$631.74 LAK14M	+338.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	$65.79 LAK1M	+83.9%
Average			+219.0%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - Cost of housing

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pay 14.7 times more for childcare

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	$435.49 LAK10M	+1450.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$711.79 LKR236K	$9,982.68 LAK225M	+1302.5%
Average			+1374.7%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - Cost of childcare

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pay 13.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.16 LKR714.17	$1.32 LAK29,812	-38.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.16 LKR713.82	$1.66 LAK37,366	-23.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	$1.78 LAK40,169	-82.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	$64.54 LAK1M	+567.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	$3.32 LAK74,750	-8.9%
Average			+13.8%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 90.3% more for clothing

	Sri Lanka	Laos
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	$48.46 LAK1M	+122.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	$62.95 LAK1M	+378.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	$64.36 LAK1M	-10.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	$46.02 LAK1M	+36.9%
Average			+90.3%

Sri Lanka vs. Laos - 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. Laos

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Be 70.2% less likely to be unemployed in Laos

Size Comparison · See true size

Sri Lanka is about 3.6 times smaller than Laos.

Moving from Sri Lanka to Laos · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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