Cost of living comparison

Bucharest, Romania

compared to

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur vs. Bucharest Cost of Living Summary

Kuala Lumpur is 12.4% cheaper than Bucharest.

Restaurants: pay 58.8% less in Kuala Lumpur
Groceries: pay 13.1% more in Kuala Lumpur
Transportation: pay 3.7% more in Kuala Lumpur
Housing: pay 22.8% more in Kuala Lumpur
Childcare: pay 34.3% less in Kuala Lumpur
Entertainment and Sports: pay 13.6% less in Kuala Lumpur
Clothing: pay 19.9% less in Kuala Lumpur

The cost of housing, groceries, and transportation in Kuala Lumpur are more expensive than in Bucharest. Expenses including restaurants, childcare, clothing, and entertainment and sports are lower in Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur vs. Bucharest Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Kuala Lumpur instead of Bucharest, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 58.8% less for restaurants

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.85 RON51.56	$4.54 MYR19.29	-61.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.54 RON32.81	$4.54 MYR19.29	-39.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.00 RON8.69	$0.84 MYR3.58	-57.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.20 RON9.59	$0.53 MYR2.27	-75.8%
Average			-58.8%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of restaurants

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pay 13.1% more for groceries

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Bread 1 loaf	$1.17 RON5.11	$0.95 MYR4.02	-19.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.52 RON19.68	$7.58 MYR32.17	+67.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.34 RON27.59	$7.22 MYR30.65	+13.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.28 RON14.26	$2.36 MYR10.01	-28.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.09 RON13.44	$1.94 MYR8.22	-37.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.59 RON2.55	$1.24 MYR5.26	+111.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.77 RON3.35	$0.69 MYR2.93	-10.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.75 RON3.27	$1.25 MYR5.31	+66.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.88 RON3.83	$0.63 MYR2.66	-28.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.51 RON2.21	$0.47 MYR1.98	-8.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.44 RON1.92	$0.51 MYR2.18	+16.3%
Average			+13.1%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.7% more for transportation

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.09 RON26.51	$1.77 MYR7.53	-70.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$17.24 RON74.99	$11.36 MYR48.22	-34.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,003.12 RON113,126.56	$37,478.71 MYR159,134.58	+44.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.82 RON25.31	$10.22 MYR43.40	+75.7%
Average			+3.7%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of transportation

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pay 22.8% more for housing

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.35 RON40.70	$25.27 MYR107.28	+170.1%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$601.94 RON2,618.73	$536.30 MYR2,277.11	-10.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$397.23 RON1,728.15	$371.69 MYR1,578.19	-6.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$130.07 RON565.86	$50.02 MYR212.40	-61.5%
Average			+22.8%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of housing

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pay 34.3% less for childcare

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$527.95 RON2,296.85	$250.80 MYR1,064.92	-52.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$10,631.65 RON46,252.99	$8,920.55 MYR37,876.66	-16.1%
Average			-34.3%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of childcare

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pay 13.6% less for entertainment and sports

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.23 RON14.06	$4.09 MYR17.36	+26.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.17 RON13.78	$2.92 MYR12.39	-7.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$5.98 RON26.01	$4.09 MYR17.36	-31.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.84 RON216.84	$44.75 MYR190.00	-10.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.62 RON37.50	$4.77 MYR20.25	-44.7%
Average			-13.6%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 19.9% less for clothing

	Bucharest	Kuala Lumpur
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$78.42 RON341.14	$57.74 MYR245.16	-26.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.68 RON172.62	$35.00 MYR148.61	-11.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$85.94 RON373.90	$76.75 MYR325.89	-10.7%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$105.80 RON460.29	$73.25 MYR311.04	-30.8%
Average			-19.9%

Bucharest vs. Kuala Lumpur - Cost of clothing

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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

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