Cost of living comparison

Malawi

compared to

Botswana

Gaborone vs. Lilongwe Cost of Living Summary

Gaborone is 11.2% more expensive than Lilongwe.

Restaurants: pay 6.4% more in Gaborone
Groceries: pay 20.0% less in Gaborone
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Gaborone
Housing: pay 26.9% more in Gaborone
Childcare: pay 63.7% less in Gaborone
Entertainment and Sports: pay 3.2% less in Gaborone

The cost of transportation, housing, and restaurants in Gaborone are more expensive than in Lilongwe. Expenses including childcare, groceries, and entertainment and sports are lower in Gaborone. Notably, transportation is significantly more expensive in Gaborone.

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Gaborone vs. Lilongwe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Gaborone instead of Lilongwe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 6.4% more for restaurants

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.00 MWK8,683.00	$10.85 BWP148.87	+117.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.25 MWK17,800.16	$5.79 BWP79.40	-43.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.26 MWK2,182.36	$0.72 BWP9.92	-42.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.57 MWK984.76	$0.42 BWP5.71	-26.7%
Average			+6.4%

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - Cost of restaurants

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pay 20.0% less for groceries

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Bread 1 loaf	$1.82 MWK3,155.26	$0.88 BWP12.02	-51.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 MWK13,683.33	$3.16 BWP43.42	-59.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.73 MWK8,212.45	$5.47 BWP75.12	+15.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.90 MWK5,041.67	$2.47 BWP33.83	-15.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.38 MWK4,131.01	$2.11 BWP28.88	-11.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 MWK2,026.12	$0.75 BWP10.31	-35.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK979.47	$0.64 BWP8.75	+13.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.68 MWK1,181.56	$0.90 BWP12.38	+32.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.03 MWK1,786.72	$0.74 BWP10.15	-28.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.92 MWK1,593.81	$0.58 BWP7.97	-36.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.45 MWK787.71	$0.53 BWP7.25	+16.5%
Average			-20.0%

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.03 MWK10,463.30	$5.15 BWP70.71	-14.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	$29.66 BWP406.91	+586.2%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$19,891.73 BWP273K
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$20.87 BWP286.32
Average			+103.7%

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - Cost of transportation

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pay 26.9% more for housing

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.21 MWK106K	$42.10 BWP577.61	-31.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$540.71 MWK939K	$356.36 BWP4,889.51	-34.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$85.13 MWK148K	$221.34 BWP3,036.92	+160.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$34.63 MWK60,134.34	$45.63 BWP626.12	+31.8%
Average			+26.9%

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - Cost of housing

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pay 63.7% less for childcare

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$350.00 MWK608K	$127.13 BWP1,744.25	-63.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$2,500.03 BWP34,301.86
Average			-63.7%

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - Cost of childcare

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pay 3.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.20 MWK3,823.26	$1.99 BWP27.29	-9.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.21 MWK5,580.44	$2.32 BWP31.83	-27.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.43 MWK4,223.25	$3.62 BWP49.62	+48.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$30.85 MWK53,568.54	$33.58 BWP460.78	+8.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$6.15 BWP84.36
Average			-3.2%

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Lilongwe	Gaborone
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$47.53 BWP652.19
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$16.75 BWP229.75
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$72.33 BWP992.46
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$78.36 BWP1,075.16

Lilongwe vs. Gaborone - 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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