Cost of living comparison

compared to

Sri Lanka vs. United Kingdom Cost of Living Summary

Sri Lanka is 62.5% cheaper than United Kingdom overall.

Restaurants: pay 62.6% less in Sri Lanka
Groceries: pay 15.0% less in Sri Lanka
Transportation: pay 62.6% less in Sri Lanka
Housing: pay 79.2% less in Sri Lanka
Childcare: pay 97.7% less in Sri Lanka
Entertainment and Sports: pay 62.6% less in Sri Lanka
Clothing: pay 58.0% less in Sri Lanka

Expenses including childcare, housing, restaurants, transportation, entertainment and sports, and clothing are lower in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka vs. United Kingdom Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Sri Lanka instead of United Kingdom, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 62.6% less for restaurants

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$20.41 £15.38	$3.63 LKR1,141.12	-82.2%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$9.94 £7.49	$7.90 LKR2,479.33	-20.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.32 £1.75	$0.73 LKR229.19	-68.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.65 £1.24	$0.35 LKR108.46	-79.0%
Average			-62.6%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 15.0% less for groceries

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Bread 1 loaf	$1.59 £1.20	$0.48 LKR150.26	-70.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.71 £3.55	$5.72 LKR1,796.22	+21.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.20 £4.67	$6.01 LKR1,887.73	-3.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.87 £2.92	$1.94 LKR610.35	-49.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.87 £2.92	$2.05 LKR643.63	-47.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.32 £0.99	$2.40 LKR752.94	+81.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 £0.55	$0.44 LKR139.44	-39.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.28 £0.97	$2.17 LKR680.38	+69.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.49 £1.13	$0.55 LKR172.09	-63.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 £0.54	$0.45 LKR142.82	-36.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.71 £0.53	$0.51 LKR159.37	-28.4%
Average			-15.0%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 62.6% less for transportation

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.22 £5.44	$4.12 LKR1,292.36	-43.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$99.05 £74.66	$10.74 LKR3,371.48	-89.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$36,224.29 £27,304.57	$24,680.98 LKR8M	-31.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$22.08 £16.64	$3.00 LKR941.94	-86.4%
Average			-62.6%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 79.2% less for housing

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$41.90 £31.58	$12.84 LKR4,030.06	-69.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,285.79 £969.18	$289.17 LKR90,792.72	-77.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,062.09 £800.57	$178.38 LKR56,007.89	-83.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$233.57 £176.06	$31.64 LKR9,934.14	-86.5%
Average			-79.2%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 97.7% less for childcare

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,530.71 £1,153.80	$33.87 LKR10,633.12	-97.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$19,375.12 £14,604.27	$466.09 LKR146K	-97.6%
Average			-97.7%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 62.6% less for entertainment and sports

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.35 £4.78	$2.08 LKR653.55	-67.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.54 £3.42	$2.39 LKR751.72	-47.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$19.18 £14.46	$9.25 LKR2,904.66	-51.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.26 £37.13	$15.04 LKR4,720.69	-69.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$13.88 £10.46	$3.12 LKR980.32	-77.5%
Average			-62.6%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 58.0% less for clothing

	United Kingdom	Sri Lanka
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$86.00 £64.82	$25.05 LKR7,865.05	-70.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$44.20 £33.32	$17.03 LKR5,345.95	-61.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$95.21 £71.77	$62.69 LKR19,682.88	-34.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$101.36 £76.40	$35.07 LKR11,011.02	-65.4%
Average			-58.0%

United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: April 2026

Compare further: United Kingdom vs. Sri Lanka

Quality of Life Comparison · 13 statistics

Make 76.0% less money in Sri Lanka

Size Comparison · See true size

United Kingdom is about 3.7 times bigger than Sri Lanka.

More cost comparisons

United Kingdom vs.

Ecuador

United Kingdom vs.

Australia

United Kingdom vs.

Spain

United Kingdom vs.

Ireland

United Kingdom vs.

Austria

United Kingdom vs.

China

United Kingdom vs.

Poland

United Kingdom vs.

Egypt

Share this

Compare by city

For example, try comparing the cost of living in London vs. Colombo

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for United Kingdom

Add prices for Sri Lanka

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Sri Lanka or United Kingdom. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.