Cost of living comparison

Burundi

compared to

Malawi

Malawi vs. Burundi Cost of Living Summary

Malawi is 17.3% cheaper than Burundi overall.

Restaurants: pay 23.1% more in Malawi
Groceries: pay 22.4% less in Malawi
Transportation: pay 52.3% less in Malawi
Housing: pay 1.7% less in Malawi
Childcare: pay 53.1% less in Malawi
Entertainment and Sports: pay 11.6% more in Malawi

The cost of restaurants and entertainment and sports in Malawi are more expensive than in Burundi. Expenses including childcare, transportation, groceries, and housing are lower in Malawi.

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Malawi vs. Burundi Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Malawi instead of Burundi, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 23.1% more for restaurants

	Burundi	Malawi
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.85 BIF11,548	$4.50 MWK7,814.70	+16.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$3.81 BIF11,426	$8.57 MWK14,880.81	+124.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.76 BIF5,269	$1.06 MWK1,845.41	-39.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.35 BIF4,052	$0.52 MWK902.91	-61.5%
Average			+23.1%

Burundi vs. Malawi - Cost of restaurants

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pay 22.4% less for groceries

	Burundi	Malawi
Bread 1 loaf	$2.01 BIF6,014	$1.58 MWK2,738.49	-21.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.16 BIF12,480	$4.83 MWK8,388.22	+16.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.80 BIF11,382	$4.31 MWK7,492.69	+13.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.60 BIF10,797	$2.31 MWK4,003.47	-36.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.07 BIF15,195	$2.46 MWK4,278.75	-51.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.65 BIF7,939	$1.09 MWK1,884.46	-59.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	??	$0.81 MWK1,411.72
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.91 BIF2,728	$0.90 MWK1,557.11	-1.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 BIF2,264	$0.76 MWK1,319.77	+0.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	??	$0.76 MWK1,319.61
Onions (1 lb)	??	$0.53 MWK920.74
Average			-22.4%

Burundi vs. Malawi - Cost of groceries

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pay 52.3% less for transportation

	Burundi	Malawi
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.04 BIF15,118	$5.95 MWK10,334.67	+18.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$30.09 BIF90,206	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	-85.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$35,205.31 MWK61M
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$31.70 BIF95,016	$12.75 MWK22,137.83	-59.8%
Average			-52.3%

Burundi vs. Malawi - Cost of transportation

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pay 1.7% less for housing

	Burundi	Malawi
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$67.62 BIF203K	$61.21 MWK106K	-9.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$433.02 BIF1M	$384.08 MWK667K	-11.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$90.78 BIF272K	$99.97 MWK174K	+10.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$27.53 MWK47,807.03
Average			-1.7%

Burundi vs. Malawi - Cost of housing

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pay 53.1% less for childcare

	Burundi	Malawi
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$99.93 BIF300K	$370.40 MWK643K	+270.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,992.86 BIF30M	$593.71 MWK1M	-94.1%
Average			-53.1%

Burundi vs. Malawi - Cost of childcare

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pay 11.6% more for entertainment and sports

	Burundi	Malawi
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.17 BIF6,501	$1.64 MWK2,846.35	-24.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.03 BIF9,075	$2.97 MWK5,154.08	-2.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$2.40 MWK4,173.70
Monthly membership at local gym	$26.65 BIF79,875	$45.11 MWK78,336.01	+69.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$1.67 BIF4,992	??
Average			+11.6%

Burundi vs. Malawi - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Burundi	Malawi
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$43.37 MWK75,316.66
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$39.87 MWK69,239.08
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$48.90 MWK84,923.42
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$70.38 MWK122K

Burundi vs. Malawi - 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: Burundi vs. Malawi

Salary Calculator · Free tool

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Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

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Size Comparison · See true size

Burundi is about 4.3 times smaller than Malawi.

Moving from Burundi to Malawi · UN DESA 2020

10,079 people born in Burundi live in Malawi.

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