Cost of living comparison

Malawi

compared to

Argentina

Buenos Aires vs. Lilongwe Cost of Living Summary

Buenos Aires is 95.2% more expensive than Lilongwe.

Restaurants: pay 2.3 times more in Buenos Aires
Groceries: pay 8.2% more in Buenos Aires
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Buenos Aires
Housing: pay 2.9 times more in Buenos Aires
Childcare: pay 32.8% more in Buenos Aires
Entertainment and Sports: pay 55.1% more in Buenos Aires

The cost of housing, restaurants, transportation, entertainment and sports, childcare, and groceries in Buenos Aires are more expensive than in Lilongwe. Notably, housing, restaurants, and transportation are significantly more expensive in Buenos Aires.

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Buenos Aires vs. Lilongwe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Buenos Aires instead of Lilongwe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 2.3 times more for restaurants

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.00 MWK8,683.00	$19.02 ARS28,866.32	+280.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.25 MWK17,800.16	$12.96 ARS19,665.62	+26.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.26 MWK2,182.36	$2.01 ARS3,045.90	+59.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.57 MWK984.76	$1.59 ARS2,416.05	+180.7%
Average			+130.1%

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of restaurants

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pay 8.2% more for groceries

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Bread 1 loaf	$1.82 MWK3,155.26	$2.48 ARS3,759.89	+36.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 MWK13,683.33	$5.25 ARS7,963.26	-33.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.73 MWK8,212.45	$5.52 ARS8,376.92	+16.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.90 MWK5,041.67	$2.81 ARS4,263.15	-3.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.38 MWK4,131.01	$4.60 ARS6,980.53	+93.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 MWK2,026.12	$1.28 ARS1,941.83	+9.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK979.47	$0.97 ARS1,476.48	+72.5%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.68 MWK1,181.56	$0.65 ARS986.80	-4.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.03 MWK1,786.72	$0.92 ARS1,393.13	-10.8%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.92 MWK1,593.81	$0.56 ARS848.63	-39.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.45 MWK787.71	$0.56 ARS844.64	+22.7%
Average			+8.2%

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.03 MWK10,463.30	$5.28 ARS8,007.28	-12.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	$27.50 ARS41,738.12	+536.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$28,500.00 ARS43M
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$9.60 ARS14,570.40
Average			+100.1%

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.9 times more for housing

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.21 MWK106K	$31.11 ARS47,219.03	-49.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$540.71 MWK939K	$770.79 ARS1M	+42.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$85.13 MWK148K	$509.75 ARS774K	+498.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$34.63 MWK60,134.34	$162.43 ARS247K	+369.1%
Average			+187.4%

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of housing

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pay 32.8% more for childcare

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$350.00 MWK608K	$464.87 ARS706K	+32.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$8,896.36 ARS14M
Average			+32.8%

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of childcare

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pay 55.1% more for entertainment and sports

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.20 MWK3,823.26	$3.95 ARS6,000.47	+79.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.21 MWK5,580.44	$3.86 ARS5,864.06	+20.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.43 MWK4,223.25	$4.21 ARS6,386.17	+73.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$30.85 MWK53,568.54	$49.97 ARS75,848.75	+62.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$10.38 ARS15,757.84
Average			+55.1%

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Lilongwe	Buenos Aires
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$120.49 ARS183K
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$95.69 ARS145K
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$115.94 ARS176K
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$138.37 ARS210K

Lilongwe vs. Buenos Aires - 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

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