Addis Ababa vs Kuala Lumpur - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Addis Ababa	Kuala Lumpur
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1180	$810
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2653	$1984
🏠 One person rent	$710	$393
🏘️ Family rent	$1338	$711
🍽️ Food expenses	$322	$278
🚐 Transport expenses	$63.8	$64.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$207	$1392
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	9 km	16 km
🎓 Higher education	32	93
😀 Quality of life	39	77
🏙️ Population	5.7M	1.98M

The cost of living in Addis Ababa is 46% more expensive than in Kuala Lumpur. Cities ranked 4540th and 6403rd ($1180 vs $810) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st and 1st in Ethiopia and Malaysia, respectively. Check Ethiopia vs Malaysia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.2 months in Addis Ababa compared to 1.7 months in Kuala Lumpur. Addis Ababa ranked 1st best city to live in Ethiopia vs Kuala Lumpur ranked 1st in Malaysia, while ranked 7025th and 811th among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Addis Ababa vs Kuala Lumpur infographic

Share this infographic!

Use the link below to embed the infographic from our site and automatically keep the data layer up to date.

If you prefer to download the image, please credit us as a source.

<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/addis-ababa/kuala-lumpur.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Addis Ababa vs Kuala Lumpur infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/addis-ababa/kuala-lumpur" target="_blank">Addis Ababa vs Kuala Lumpur - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Addis Ababa vs Kuala Lumpur

Prices for goods and services in Addis Ababa and Kuala Lumpur are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Addis Ababa	Kuala Lumpur
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.24	$4.17
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$34.7	$25.4
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.27	$4.54
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$4.64
☕ Cappuccino	$1.18	$2.93
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.75	$0.82
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$637	$450
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$444	$297
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1854	$928
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$859	$548
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$97.4	$40.3
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$150	$61.8
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$130	$25.4
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	16.49%	4.59%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2510	$2996
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1875	$1427
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.5	$0.69
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$9.91	$11.5
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.57	$9.04
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.29	$0.49
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.53	$1.9
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.17	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.12	$1.37
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.45	$2.32
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.38	$13.6
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.1	$4.64
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.04	$2.81
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.07	$1.5
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.38	$2.58
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.45
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.67	$1.1
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.21
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.43
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.7	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.46	$16.8
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.1	$3.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$4	$4.05
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.94	$3.45
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.22	$3.64
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.49	$1.57
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.7	$2.19
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$84.2	$41.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$5.72	$4.82
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$12	$20
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.13	$5.65
👖 Brand Jeans	$49.1	$56.9
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$77.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$86.3	$254
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$3446	$8723

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Addis Ababa

Distance	City	Cost of living
222 km or 138 mi	Awasa	$886
254 km or 158 mi	Dessie	$838
258 km or 161 mi	Jimma	$654
320 km or 199 mi	Bahir Dar	$752
349 km or 217 mi	Dire Dawa	$756
374 km or 232 mi	Harar	$718
421 km or 261 mi	Gondar	$897
447 km or 278 mi	Jijiga	$764
460 km or 286 mi	Dikhil	$542
495 km or 308 mi	Ali Sabieh	$542
498 km or 309 mi	Borama	$518
502 km or 312 mi	Mekelle	$662
561 km or 348 mi	Djibouti City	$571
568 km or 353 mi	Ad-Damazin	$836
587 km or 365 mi	Hargeisa	$660
595 km or 370 mi	Obock	$540
651 km or 405 mi	Mendefera	$487
666 km or 414 mi	El-Gadarif	$943
701 km or 436 mi	Asmara	$520
735 km or 457 mi	Massawa	$486
752 km or 467 mi	Keren	$488
758 km or 471 mi	Kassala	$1006
761 km or 473 mi	Zabid	$482
767 km or 476 mi	Taiz	$507
780 km or 485 mi	Malakal	$496
789 km or 490 mi	Al Hudaydah	$505
805 km or 500 mi	Aden	$503
806 km or 501 mi	Kosti	$860
807 km or 502 mi	Ibb	$496
851 km or 529 mi	Bor	$506
853 km or 530 mi	Baidoa	$706
870 km or 541 mi	Dhamar	$486
914 km or 568 mi	Sayyan	$481
914 km or 568 mi	Juba	$513
920 km or 572 mi	Sanaa	$546
989 km or 615 mi	Khartoum North	$877
995 km or 618 mi	Khartoum	$888
995 km or 618 mi	Gulu	$594
1005 km or 625 mi	Meru	$541
1006 km or 625 mi	Omdurman	$908

Cities near Kuala Lumpur

Distance	City	Cost of living
11 km or 6.7 mi	Petaling Jaya	$701
15 km or 9.1 mi	Subang Jaya	$714
19 km or 12 mi	Shah Alam	$645
24 km or 15 mi	Putrajaya	$532
25 km or 16 mi	Cyberjaya	$585
30 km or 19 mi	Klang	$670
54 km or 33 mi	Seremban	$604
123 km or 77 mi	Malacca	$669
124 km or 77 mi	Teluk Intan	$631
155 km or 97 mi	Muar	$682
167 km or 104 mi	Dumai	$543
176 km or 109 mi	Ipoh	$628
196 km or 122 mi	Kuantan	$529
199 km or 124 mi	Batu Pahat	$703
211 km or 131 mi	Tanjungbalai	$503
217 km or 135 mi	Taiping	$695
219 km or 136 mi	Kluang	$679
229 km or 142 mi	Chukai	$565
282 km or 175 mi	Tebing Tinggi	$474
291 km or 181 mi	Butterworth	$619
291 km or 181 mi	Kuala Terengganu	$501
292 km or 181 mi	Pekanbaru	$542
293 km or 182 mi	Pematangsiantar	$486
294 km or 183 mi	George Town	$620
297 km or 184 mi	Johor Bahru	$759
309 km or 192 mi	Sungai Petani	$605
311 km or 193 mi	Singapore City	$3059
315 km or 195 mi	Bukit Merah	$2788
335 km or 208 mi	Padangsidempuan	$582
338 km or 210 mi	Kota Bharu	$485
341 km or 212 mi	Medan	$481
346 km or 215 mi	Batam	$539
360 km or 224 mi	Binjai	$470
361 km or 225 mi	Alor Setar	$490
394 km or 245 mi	Tanjung Pinang	$506
402 km or 250 mi	Kangar	$536
413 km or 257 mi	Langkawi	$560
441 km or 274 mi	Langsa	$461
451 km or 280 mi	Hat Yai	$570
457 km or 284 mi	Ko Lipe	$719