Cost of living comparison

Timor-Leste

compared to

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea vs. Timor-Leste Cost of Living Summary

Papua New Guinea is 13.2% more expensive than Timor-Leste overall.

Restaurants: pay 14.2% less in Papua New Guinea
Groceries: pay 62.8% more in Papua New Guinea
Transportation: pay 8.0% more in Papua New Guinea
Housing: pay 11.7% more in Papua New Guinea
Childcare: pay 53.4% less in Papua New Guinea
Entertainment and Sports: pay 17.4% more in Papua New Guinea
Clothing: pay 27.9% more in Papua New Guinea

The cost of groceries, clothing, entertainment and sports, housing, and transportation in Papua New Guinea are more expensive than in Timor-Leste. Expenses including childcare and restaurants are lower in Papua New Guinea.

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Papua New Guinea vs. Timor-Leste Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Papua New Guinea instead of Timor-Leste, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 14.2% less for restaurants

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.00	$7.78 PGK35.37	+55.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.00	$5.56 PGK25.27	-30.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.67	$0.75 PGK3.41	-55.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.83	$0.67 PGK3.03	-76.5%
Average			-14.2%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of restaurants

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pay 62.8% more for groceries

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Bread 1 loaf	$2.48	$1.52 PGK6.91	-38.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$1.00	$4.32 PGK19.64	+331.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$8.80	$7.10 PGK32.28	-19.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.70	$3.69 PGK16.78	+36.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.31	$2.58 PGK11.75	-40.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.51	$1.95 PGK8.88	+29.2%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83	$1.44 PGK6.57	+73.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13	$3.29 PGK14.97	+190.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.06	$2.92 PGK13.29	+176.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.55	$1.51 PGK6.88	+173.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53	$1.31 PGK5.96	+147.6%
Average			+62.8%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of groceries

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pay 8.0% more for transportation

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.34	$3.78 PGK17.18	-29.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.00	$22.22 PGK101.06	-25.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$18,000.00	$50,004.77 PGK227K	+177.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$32.70	$23.34 PGK106.12	-28.6%
Average			+8.0%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of transportation

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pay 11.7% more for housing

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	??	$91.68 PGK416.89
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$828.75	$1,603.86 PGK7,293.44	+93.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$753.75	$555.61 PGK2,526.59	-26.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$114.71	$89.65 PGK407.67	-21.8%
Average			+11.7%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of housing

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pay 53.4% less for childcare

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,500.00	$842.47 PGK3,831.07	-43.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,000.00	$6,176.41 PGK28,086.83	-61.4%
Average			-53.4%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of childcare

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pay 17.4% more for entertainment and sports

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.50	$3.00 PGK13.64	+20.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.12	$2.47 PGK11.24	-40.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.00	$6.45 PGK29.31	+114.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$50.00	$61.49 PGK279.61	+23.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.00	$8.89 PGK40.43	+48.2%
Average			+17.4%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 27.9% more for clothing

	Timor-Leste	Papua New Guinea
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$60.00	$32.73 PGK148.82	-45.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$30.00	$31.67 PGK144.02	+5.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$80.00	$136.12 PGK619.02	+70.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$60.00	$163.90 PGK745.35	+173.2%
Average			+27.9%

Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea - 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: Timor-Leste vs. Papua New Guinea

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Papua New Guinea?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 2.3 times more money in Papua New Guinea

Size Comparison · See true size

Timor-Leste is about 31 times smaller than Papua New Guinea.

Moving from Timor-Leste to Papua New Guinea · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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