Cost of living in Ukraine

To learn cost of living in Ukraine is important step for all foreign students. Ukraine is one of the cheapest european country that makes it one of the best option for studying abroad in Europe. From this article you’ll learn about price of accommodation, transportation, food, cloth and general cost of living in Ukraine. Also you’ll learn a few useful tips for foreing students in Ukraine. Ukrainian Admission Center analyzed prices in Ukraine and thats our report:

Money and currency in Ukraine

Before we start talking about prices, we want to tell you about money in Ukraine.

National currency is Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH). 1 USD = 25 Hryvnia.

The national currency of Ukraine strongly collapsed few years aho. Despite the fact that this is a big problem for the country, it is a great advantage for foreign students. Now you can get more for the same money if you took USD dollars with you.

You can not pay in dollars or other currency. Only the hryvnia allows for payment. All foreign currency can be exchanged at banks, exchange offices, train stations and airports. This is not a problem. Bank branches are very common. We recommend not to use exchange offices at the airport. The most favorable rate in the bank’s branches.

Accommodation

Almost all universities in Ukraine has its own hostels. International students can live there. Price for room in hostel will be from $ 40 USD to $ 100 USD. In lot of cases you’ll live there with 1 or 2 roommates.

Some students prefer to rent a flat. In some cases, if they rent flat for few peoples, it can be more profitable.

The price range for apartments is very high. It depends on the city, the size of the apartment and its location (center or suburb).

For examle, you can rent 1 room flat for $ 100 USD far away from centre. Or even in centre in small cities.
3 rooms flat will cost you $ 600 USD and more. The cost of an apartment depends on the state of repair of the apartment and furniture. We strongly recommend students to specify the presence of furniture before renting an apartment. Most of the students live in the hostel and pay no more than $ 70 per month. Those who rents an apartment, usually pay no more than $ 150. It all depends on your needs.

The most expensive cities are Kyiv, Odessa. Little cheaper are Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk.

Such cities as Kherson, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi will be cheaper than cities above.

Transportation

Also important item of expenditure. Usually, if you live in a university’s hostel, it is located close and you do not need to use transport to reach for study. However, you still want to go to another part of the city, to go to have fun or travel around the country.
Transportation is also very cheap in Ukraine.

One-way ticket in local transport (bus, tram, subway, trolley-bus, etc) will cost you $ 0.4 USD – $ 0.7 USD.

Monthly pass for subway starts from $ 8 USD to $ 12 USD (there are few variations of pass).

Taxi will cost you $ 2 – $ 3 USD plus $ 0.45 USD per 1 km (starts from 5th km)

Gasoline (1 liter) will cost you $ 0.85 – $ 1.05 USD

Food

Ukraine is agrarian country with a lot of cooking traditions. Be sure, if you want, you’ll learn a lot of interesting and tasty recipes. Here, people rarely order pizza and fast food at home. Usually, they buy products on the market or in stores and cook it at home themeselves. We encourage students to do the same, it is very economical and satisfying.

Local people often buy food at the markets. It is very convenient, but we recommend students not to do so immediately. Unfortunately, you do not have sufficient experience of residence in Ukraine, you can be cheated at the market.
It is better to use large retail supermarkets, here the price as low as shopping much easier.

Most famous supermarkets are:

Amstor
ATB
ASHAN
METRO

You an meet them everywhere.

OK, now about prices:

Milk (1 liter) – $ 0.5 – $ 0.9 USD
White Bread – $ 0.35 – $ 0.5 USD
Rice (1kg) – $ 0.8 – $ 1.1 USD
Chicken eggs (10) – $ 0.9 – $ 1 USD
Potato (1kg) – $ 0.4 – $ 1 USD (depends from time of the year)
Water (1.5 liter in bottle) – $ 0.3 – $ 0.5 USD
Bottle of wine (0.5 litre) – $ 5 – $ 25 USD
Bottle of beer (0.5 litre) – $ 0.4 – $ 1 USD.
Cigarettes (Malboro) – $ 1 USD.

It’s a little number of products, but we think that you see, that prices are really low.

Clothing and outfits

The disputed point. We can not say that the clothes are definitely cheap. We do not take into account the expensive branded items.

1 Pair of Jeans starts from $ 40 USD.

1 Summer dress starts from $ 40 USD.

1 pair of shoes starts from $ 20 USD. Good running shoes are not cheaper than $ 100

Total cost of living in Ukraine per month

Of course, we all know that the cost of living depends on the person.
Someone lives modestly and almost does not spend money on entertainment, and somebody always goes to the most fashionable boutiques and parties.

Let’s look at these figures. The minimum wage in Ukraine, according to the law, is only $ 62 USD. The average salary of an IT specialist – 325 USD ,medical worker – $ 250, a man who has just started his career – 100-150 dollars.

So, You can feel comfortable, spending $ 200 per month (including rent room at the hostel).

If you can afford to spend $ 500 per month, you can live in a great apartment, buying different things and often fun.

Please note: Universities tuition fees doesn’t include in this cost.