Cost of living comparison

Zambia

compared to

Romania

Romania vs. Zambia Cost of Living Summary

Romania is 20.7% more expensive than Zambia overall.

Restaurants: pay 89.8% more in Romania
Groceries: pay 31.2% less in Romania
Transportation: pay 19.4% more in Romania
Housing: pay 37.2% more in Romania
Childcare: pay 22.3% more in Romania
Entertainment and Sports: pay 10.6% more in Romania
Clothing: pay 87.2% more in Romania

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

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Romania vs. Zambia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Romania instead of Zambia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 89.8% more for restaurants

	Zambia	Romania
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.53 ZMW110.20	$9.82 RON46.44	+77.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.03 ZMW100.18	$7.22 RON34.13	+43.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.63 ZMW12.52	$1.87 RON8.86	+198.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.36 ZMW7.20	$1.57 RON7.43	+334.7%
Average			+89.8%

Zambia vs. Romania - Cost of restaurants

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pay 31.2% less for groceries

	Zambia	Romania
Bread 1 loaf	$1.18 ZMW23.48	$1.10 RON5.19	-6.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.15 ZMW102.63	$3.76 RON17.78	-27.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.37 ZMW126.88	$5.36 RON25.36	-15.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.77 ZMW35.36	$2.91 RON13.77	+64.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.87 ZMW57.22	$2.69 RON12.72	-6.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.11 ZMW22.03	$0.51 RON2.42	-53.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.10 ZMW21.94	$0.67 RON3.18	-39.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 ZMW32.94	$0.65 RON3.08	-60.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZMW13.88	$0.89 RON4.19	+27.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16 ZMW23.20	$0.35 RON1.66	-69.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.83 ZMW16.51	$0.36 RON1.70	-56.6%
Average			-31.2%

Zambia vs. Romania - Cost of groceries

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pay 19.4% more for transportation

	Zambia	Romania
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.47 ZMW108.98	$6.55 RON30.98	+19.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$50.15 ZMW999.41	$23.38 RON110.58	-53.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	$27,083.66 RON128K	+259.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.58 ZMW290.52	$6.64 RON31.43	-54.4%
Average			+19.4%

Zambia vs. Romania - Cost of transportation

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pay 37.2% more for housing

	Zambia	Romania
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	$8.56 RON40.50	-84.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$280.45 ZMW5,588.55	$371.73 RON1,758.50	+32.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$165.11 ZMW3,290.10	$281.26 RON1,330.53	+70.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	$107.14 RON506.84	+74.2%
Average			+37.2%

Zambia vs. Romania - Cost of housing

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pay 22.3% more for childcare

	Zambia	Romania
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	$482.75 RON2,283.68	+249.2%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	$7,125.14 RON33,706.19	-57.2%
Average			+22.3%

Zambia vs. Romania - Cost of childcare

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pay 10.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Zambia	Romania
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.26 ZMW25.05	$2.18 RON10.31	+73.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.82 ZMW56.21	$2.45 RON11.57	-13.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.02 ZMW60.11	$5.71 RON27.03	+89.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	$38.73 RON183.19	-29.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.03 ZMW120.22	$7.13 RON33.75	+18.3%
Average			+10.6%

Zambia vs. Romania - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 87.2% more for clothing

	Zambia	Romania
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$23.28 ZMW463.85	$62.00 RON293.30	+166.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.45 ZMW307.88	$35.53 RON168.09	+130.0%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$45.19 ZMW900.42	$77.18 RON365.11	+70.8%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	$85.19 RON402.98	+17.4%
Average			+87.2%

Zambia 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: Zambia vs. Romania

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Romania?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 17.1 times more money in Romania

Size Comparison · See true size

Zambia is about 3.2 times bigger than Romania.

Moving from Zambia to Romania · UN DESA 2020

105 people born in Zambia live in Romania.

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