Cost of living comparison

Sri Lanka

compared to

Maldives

Maldives vs. Sri Lanka Cost of Living Summary

Maldives is 2.6 times more expensive than Sri Lanka overall.

Restaurants: pay 95.6% more in Maldives
Groceries: pay 53.2% more in Maldives
Transportation: pay 79.3% more in Maldives
Housing: pay 4.2 times more in Maldives
Childcare: pay 5.3 times more in Maldives
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.8 times more in Maldives
Clothing: pay 90.0% more in Maldives

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

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Maldives vs. Sri Lanka Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 95.6% more for restaurants

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.19 LKR726.11	$6.00 MVR92.80	+173.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	$9.57 MVR147.98	+54.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.82 LKR270.87	$1.63 MVR25.14	+98.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.31 LKR101.62	$0.30 MVR4.59	-3.2%
Average			+95.6%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - Cost of restaurants

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pay 53.2% more for groceries

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Bread 1 loaf	$0.50 LKR164.88	$1.65 MVR25.58	+232.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	$3.48 MVR53.78	-31.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	$6.83 MVR105.59	+36.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.59 LKR525.48	$1.87 MVR28.90	+17.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.92 LKR637.54	$2.76 MVR42.75	+43.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.39 LKR790.19	$1.80 MVR27.85	-24.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.33 LKR110.92	$1.39 MVR21.41	+313.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 LKR546.03	$1.59 MVR24.57	-3.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 LKR195.36	$1.22 MVR18.85	+106.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.45 LKR150.14	$0.75 MVR11.64	+66.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 LKR113.13	$0.69 MVR10.64	+101.4%
Average			+53.2%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - Cost of groceries

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pay 79.3% more for transportation

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	$3.81 MVR58.84	-20.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	$30.82 MVR476.54	+527.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,619.96 LKR10M	$32,446.46 MVR502K	+9.5%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$2.96 LKR979.01	$17.52 MVR270.88	+492.7%
Average			+79.3%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.2 times more for housing

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	$73.00 MVR1,128.65	+347.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	$1,043.39 MVR16,130.74	+315.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	$739.32 MVR11,429.82	+413.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	$85.19 MVR1,317.00	+138.2%
Average			+317.5%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - Cost of housing

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pay 5.3 times more for childcare

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	$184.92 MVR2,858.87	+558.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$711.79 LKR236K	$3,003.87 MVR46,439.89	+322.0%
Average			+427.1%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.8 times more for entertainment and sports

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.16 LKR714.17	$4.87 MVR75.24	+125.7%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.16 LKR713.82	$3.55 MVR54.86	+64.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	$13.95 MVR215.70	+40.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	$70.81 MVR1,094.69	+632.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	$9.73 MVR150.49	+167.3%
Average			+183.0%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 90.0% more for clothing

	Sri Lanka	Maldives
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	$39.51 MVR610.80	+81.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	$49.63 MVR767.27	+277.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	$87.11 MVR1,346.76	+21.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	$52.50 MVR811.70	+56.3%
Average			+90.0%

Sri Lanka vs. Maldives - 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. Maldives

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Maldives?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 2.9 times more money in Maldives

Size Comparison · See true size

Sri Lanka is about 220 times bigger than Maldives.

Moving from Sri Lanka to Maldives · UN DESA 2020

7,383 people born in Sri Lanka live in Maldives.

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