Cost of living comparison

United Arab Emirates

compared to

Romania

Romania vs. United Arab Emirates Cost of Living Summary

Romania is 41.0% cheaper than United Arab Emirates overall.

Restaurants: pay 20.9% more in Romania
Groceries: pay 17.3% less in Romania
Transportation: pay 3.6% less in Romania
Housing: pay 70.6% less in Romania
Childcare: pay 6.6% less in Romania
Entertainment and Sports: pay 53.9% less in Romania
Clothing: pay 13.0% less in Romania

Expenses including housing, entertainment and sports, groceries, clothing, childcare, and transportation are lower in Romania.

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Romania vs. United Arab Emirates Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Romania instead of United Arab Emirates, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 20.9% more for restaurants

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$8.43 AED30.94	$9.82 RON46.44	+16.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.55 AED31.39	$7.22 RON34.13	-15.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.07 AED3.94	$1.87 RON8.86	+74.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.45 AED1.66	$1.57 RON7.43	+248.5%
Average			+20.9%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - Cost of restaurants

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pay 17.3% less for groceries

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Bread 1 loaf	$1.46 AED5.38	$1.10 RON5.19	-25.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.94 AED18.13	$3.76 RON17.78	-23.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.75 AED24.78	$5.36 RON25.36	-20.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.80 AED10.28	$2.91 RON13.77	+3.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.68 AED13.51	$2.69 RON12.72	-26.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.97 AED3.58	$0.51 RON2.42	-47.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.76 AED2.80	$0.67 RON3.18	-11.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.72 AED2.65	$0.65 RON3.08	-9.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 AED2.13	$0.89 RON4.19	+52.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.48 AED1.75	$0.35 RON1.66	-26.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.47 AED1.74	$0.36 RON1.70	-24.2%
Average			-17.3%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.6% less for transportation

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.40 AED12.50	$6.55 RON30.98	+92.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$49.01 AED179.98	$23.38 RON110.58	-52.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$33,745.09 AED124K	$27,083.66 RON128K	-19.7%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$7.71 AED28.30	$6.64 RON31.43	-13.8%
Average			-3.6%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - Cost of transportation

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pay 70.6% less for housing

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$87.46 AED321.19	$8.56 RON40.50	-90.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,419.61 AED5,213.52	$371.73 RON1,758.50	-73.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,087.32 AED3,993.18	$281.26 RON1,330.53	-74.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$131.39 AED482.53	$107.14 RON506.84	-18.5%
Average			-70.6%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - Cost of housing

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pay 6.6% less for childcare

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$481.84 AED1,769.57	$482.75 RON2,283.68	+0.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$8,191.72 AED30,084.11	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	-13.0%
Average			-6.6%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - Cost of childcare

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pay 53.9% less for entertainment and sports

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$10.81 AED39.72	$2.18 RON10.31	-79.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.99 AED18.33	$2.45 RON11.57	-51.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.20 AED22.77	$5.71 RON27.03	-7.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$69.98 AED256.99	$38.73 RON183.19	-44.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.30 AED48.83	$7.13 RON33.75	-46.3%
Average			-53.9%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 13.0% less for clothing

	United Arab Emirates	Romania
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$53.49 AED196.43	$62.00 RON293.30	+15.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$52.36 AED192.30	$35.53 RON168.09	-32.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$95.31 AED350.04	$77.18 RON365.11	-19.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$94.82 AED348.22	$85.19 RON402.98	-10.2%
Average			-13.0%

United Arab Emirates vs. Romania - 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: United Arab Emirates vs. Romania

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Romania?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Be 2.8 times more likely to be unemployed in Romania

Size Comparison · See true size

United Arab Emirates is about 2.9 times smaller than Romania.

Moving from United Arab Emirates to Romania · UN DESA 2020

514 people born in United Arab Emirates live in Romania.

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