Cost of living comparison

Malawi

compared to

Namibia

Windhoek vs. Lilongwe Cost of Living Summary

Windhoek is 50.4% more expensive than Lilongwe.

Restaurants: pay 21.0% more in Windhoek
Groceries: pay 2.6% more in Windhoek
Transportation: pay 2.5 times more in Windhoek
Housing: pay 2.0 times more in Windhoek
Childcare: pay 40.4% less in Windhoek
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.8% less in Windhoek

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

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Windhoek vs. Lilongwe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 21.0% more for restaurants

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.00 MWK8,683.00	$11.42 NAD188.06	+128.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.25 MWK17,800.16	$6.01 NAD98.98	-41.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.26 MWK2,182.36	$0.84 NAD13.86	-33.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.57 MWK984.76	$0.89 NAD14.69	+57.3%
Average			+21.0%

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.6% more for groceries

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Bread 1 loaf	$1.82 MWK3,155.26	$0.92 NAD15.09	-49.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 MWK13,683.33	$4.69 NAD77.27	-40.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.73 MWK8,212.45	$5.92 NAD97.42	+25.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.90 MWK5,041.67	$3.12 NAD51.34	+7.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.38 MWK4,131.01	$3.06 NAD50.45	+28.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 MWK2,026.12	$0.99 NAD16.36	-14.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK979.47	$0.89 NAD14.59	+57.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.68 MWK1,181.56	$0.84 NAD13.75	+22.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.03 MWK1,786.72	$0.92 NAD15.07	-11.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.92 MWK1,593.81	$0.90 NAD14.87	-1.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.45 MWK787.71	$0.80 NAD13.24	+77.4%
Average			+2.6%

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.5 times more for transportation

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.03 MWK10,463.30	$5.21 NAD85.71	-13.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	$48.10 NAD791.85	+1012.9%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$23,990.15 NAD395K
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$8.00 NAD131.65
Average			+150.6%

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.0 times more for housing

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.21 MWK106K	$50.44 NAD830.34	-17.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$540.71 MWK939K	$500.55 NAD8,240.19	-7.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$85.13 MWK148K	$354.07 NAD5,828.90	+315.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$34.63 MWK60,134.34	$108.00 NAD1,777.91	+211.9%
Average			+101.4%

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - Cost of housing

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pay 40.4% less for childcare

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$350.00 MWK608K	$208.44 NAD3,431.35	-40.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$5,331.14 NAD87,763.39
Average			-40.4%

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.20 MWK3,823.26	$1.95 NAD32.17	-11.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.21 MWK5,580.44	$2.30 NAD37.94	-28.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.43 MWK4,223.25	$3.31 NAD54.44	+36.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$30.85 MWK53,568.54	$37.08 NAD610.38	+20.2%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$5.41 NAD89.08
Average			-1.8%

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Lilongwe	Windhoek
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$54.86 NAD903.20
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$34.63 NAD570.13
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$89.44 NAD1,472.35
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$94.70 NAD1,558.96

Lilongwe vs. Windhoek - 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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