Cost of living comparison

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

compared to

Pretoria, South Africa

Pretoria vs. Bishkek Cost of Living Summary

Pretoria is 69.0% more expensive than Bishkek.

Restaurants: pay 55.9% more in Pretoria
Groceries: pay 43.6% more in Pretoria
Transportation: pay 3.2 times more in Pretoria
Housing: pay 2.2 times more in Pretoria
Childcare: pay 14.1% less in Pretoria
Entertainment and Sports: pay 50.2% more in Pretoria
Clothing: pay 0.2% more in Pretoria

The cost of transportation, housing, restaurants, entertainment and sports, groceries, and clothing in Pretoria are more expensive than in Bishkek. Notably, transportation and housing are significantly more expensive in Pretoria.

Pretoria vs. Bishkek Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Pretoria instead of Bishkek, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 55.9% more for restaurants

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.80 KGS507.25	$8.52 ZAR153.31	+46.9%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.68 KGS497.11	$4.68 ZAR84.27	-17.6%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.68 KGS59.14	$1.01 ZAR18.14	+49.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.33 KGS28.98	$0.81 ZAR14.61	+145.1%
Average			+55.9%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 43.6% more for groceries

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Bread 1 loaf	$0.48 KGS41.78	$1.07 ZAR19.33	+124.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.14 KGS449.42	$3.70 ZAR66.52	-28.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.25 KGS283.83	$4.91 ZAR88.41	+51.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.76 KGS153.67	$2.35 ZAR42.23	+33.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.41 KGS211.16	$2.08 ZAR37.36	-14.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.47 KGS41.22	$0.69 ZAR12.43	+46.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.85 KGS74.39	$0.68 ZAR12.32	-19.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.94 KGS82.52	$0.73 ZAR13.05	-23.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.90 KGS78.92	$0.75 ZAR13.55	-16.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.23 KGS19.88	$0.64 ZAR11.51	+181.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.24 KGS21.00	$0.58 ZAR10.49	+142.8%
Average			+43.6%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 3.2 times more for transportation

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$2.90 KGS254.01	$5.05 ZAR90.95	+74.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$7.54 KGS659.43	$65.32 ZAR1,175.37	+766.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$39,443.16 KGS3,449,303.94	$19,084.78 ZAR343,411.29	-51.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$4.18 KGS365.22	$8.78 ZAR157.91	+110.1%
Average			+224.7%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.2 times more for housing

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$12.05 KGS1,053.48	$39.13 ZAR704.13	+224.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$474.69 KGS41,511.27	$416.34 ZAR7,491.68	-12.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$353.07 KGS30,875.68	$379.25 ZAR6,824.20	+7.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$23.19 KGS2,027.91	$86.03 ZAR1,548.02	+271.0%
Average			+122.7%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 14.1% less for childcare

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$230.15 KGS20,126.58	$216.65 ZAR3,898.42	-5.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,168.50 KGS539,435.63	$4,800.41 ZAR86,378.45	-22.2%
Average			-14.1%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 50.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.16 KGS101.45	$2.39 ZAR42.93	+105.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.06 KGS179.79	$2.00 ZAR35.91	-2.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.56 KGS136.45	$2.95 ZAR53.15	+89.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$43.01 KGS3,760.83	$34.21 ZAR615.58	-20.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$4.35 KGS380.44	$7.81 ZAR140.53	+79.5%
Average			+50.2%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 0.2% more for clothing

	Bishkek	Pretoria
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$40.60 KGS3,550.75	$49.09 ZAR883.26	+20.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.86 KGS3,398.58	$34.65 ZAR623.46	-10.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$103.88 KGS9,084.40	$92.30 ZAR1,660.84	-11.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$96.67 KGS8,454.18	$98.31 ZAR1,768.95	+1.7%
Average			+0.2%

Bishkek vs. Pretoria - 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: June 2025

More cost comparisons

Bishkek vs.

Ankara

Bishkek vs.

Athens

Bishkek vs.

Dublin

Bishkek vs.

Madrid

Bishkek vs.

Moscow

Bishkek vs.

Vienna

Bishkek vs.

Ottawa

Bishkek vs.

Mexico City

Share this

Compare countries by overall cost of living

See the cost of living in Kyrgyzstan vs. South Africa. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Kyrgyzstan and South Africa.

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 Bishkek

Add prices for Pretoria

ASK THE ELSEWHERE COMMUNITY

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