Cost of living comparison

Taiwan

compared to

North Korea

P'yongyang vs. Taipei Cost of Living Summary

P'yongyang is 62.6% cheaper than Taipei.

Restaurants: pay 87.4% more in P'yongyang
Groceries: pay 36.4% less in P'yongyang
Housing: pay 87.2% less in P'yongyang
Entertainment and Sports: pay 44.3% more in P'yongyang

The cost of restaurants and entertainment and sports in P'yongyang are more expensive than in Taipei. Expenses including housing and groceries are lower in P'yongyang. Notably, restaurants is significantly more expensive in P'yongyang.

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P'yongyang vs. Taipei Cost Breakdown

If you lived in P'yongyang instead of Taipei, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 87.4% more for restaurants

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.71 NT$150.49	$4.81 KPW4,327	+2.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.65 NT$180.59	$21.26 KPW19,136	+276.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.92 NT$29.35	$2.21 KPW1,985	+140.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.65 NT$20.86	$1.28 KPW1,153	+96.3%
Average			+87.4%

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - Cost of restaurants

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pay 36.4% less for groceries

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Bread 1 loaf	$2.02 NT$64.65	$2.30 KPW2,071	+13.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$9.85 NT$314.68	??
Milk (1 gallon)	$11.54 NT$368.90	$3.55 KPW3,195	-69.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.72 NT$87.00	$2.00 KPW1,798	-26.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.45 NT$142.21	??
Apples (1 lb)	$2.23 NT$71.26	??
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.51 NT$48.15	??
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.38 NT$44.23	??
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.02 NT$64.54	??
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.25 NT$39.84	??
Onions (1 lb)	$1.04 NT$33.27	??
Average			-36.4%

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - Cost of groceries

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pay (unknown) more for transportation

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.94 NT$126.01	??
Monthly public transit pass	$37.67 NT$1,203.90	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,523.97 NT$1M	??
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$8.95 NT$285.93	??

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - Cost of transportation

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pay 87.2% less for housing

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$27.40 NT$875.71	??
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,012.31 NT$32,354.87	$89.58 KPW80,621	-91.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$482.92 NT$15,434.64	$89.58 KPW80,621	-81.5%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$66.27 NT$2,118.10	??
Average			-87.2%

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$662.67 NT$21,179.76	??
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,675.66 NT$533K	??

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - Cost of childcare

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pay 44.3% more for entertainment and sports

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.83 NT$90.29	$13.44 KPW12,093	+375.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.42 NT$109.45	$1.12 KPW1,008	-67.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.92 NT$125.41	??
Monthly membership at local gym	$41.15 NT$1,315.12	$75.02 KPW67,520	+82.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.73 NT$311.01	??
Average			+44.3%

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Taipei	P'yongyang
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$63.18 NT$2,019.38	??
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.99 NT$1,277.99	??
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$84.98 NT$2,715.95	??
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.09 NT$3,358.66	??

Taipei vs. P'yongyang - 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

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