Cost of living comparison

Madagascar

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Madagascar Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 82.9% more expensive than Madagascar overall.

Restaurants: pay 59.3% more in Japan
Groceries: pay 2.4 times more in Japan
Transportation: pay 25.3% more in Japan
Housing: pay 88.6% more in Japan
Childcare: pay 3.5 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.1 times more in Japan
Clothing: pay 12.7% more in Japan

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

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Japan vs. Madagascar Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of Madagascar, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 59.3% more for restaurants

	Madagascar	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.71 MGA12,217	$6.75 ¥1,066	+149.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.65 MGA25,453	$5.10 ¥805	-9.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.79 MGA3,563	$1.13 ¥179	+43.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.44 MGA1,968	$0.76 ¥120	+73.4%
Average			+59.3%

Madagascar vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.4 times more for groceries

	Madagascar	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$1.02 MGA4,618	$1.53 ¥241	+48.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.23 MGA19,053	$5.55 ¥877	+31.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.70 MGA16,668	$5.56 ¥879	+50.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.05 MGA9,239	$2.01 ¥318	-1.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.02 MGA9,115	$2.85 ¥450	+40.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.49 MGA2,217	$2.16 ¥342	+340.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.26 MGA1,155	$1.08 ¥171	+322.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.47 MGA2,117	$1.54 ¥243	+227.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.39 MGA1,748	$1.92 ¥303	+394.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.26 MGA1,193	$1.10 ¥174	+316.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.44 MGA1,963	$1.08 ¥170	+147.0%
Average			+135.9%

Madagascar vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 25.3% more for transportation

	Madagascar	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.39 MGA19,774	$4.11 ¥649	-6.4%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$63.20 ¥9,986
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$11,971.37 MGA54M	$21,047.50 ¥3M	+75.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.65 MGA88,575	$24.65 ¥3,895	+25.4%
Average			+25.3%

Madagascar vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 88.6% more for housing

	Madagascar	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$57.15 MGA258K	$33.54 ¥5,300	-41.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$325.82 MGA1M	$546.58 ¥86,367	+67.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$150.37 MGA678K	$360.78 ¥57,008	+139.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$56.66 MGA255K	$113.26 ¥17,897	+99.9%
Average			+88.6%

Madagascar vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 3.5 times more for childcare

	Madagascar	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$25.03 MGA113K	$417.01 ¥65,893	+1565.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,998.31 MGA68M	$11,300.14 ¥2M	-24.7%
Average			+254.3%

Madagascar vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports

	Madagascar	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.02 MGA4,581	$2.57 ¥406	+153.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.65 MGA7,447	$3.06 ¥483	+84.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.58 MGA7,127	$3.83 ¥605	+142.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$29.61 MGA133K	$53.31 ¥8,424	+80.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$5.65 MGA25,453	$11.73 ¥1,853	+107.7%
Average			+106.8%

Madagascar vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 12.7% more for clothing

	Madagascar	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$29.03 MGA131K	$46.32 ¥7,320	+59.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$27.67 MGA125K	$31.33 ¥4,950	+13.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.50 MGA349K	$59.45 ¥9,394	-23.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$69.58 MGA314K	$81.04 ¥12,805	+16.5%
Average			+12.7%

Madagascar vs. Japan - 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: Madagascar vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 60.0 times more money in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

Madagascar is about 1.6 times bigger than Japan.

Moving from Madagascar to Japan · OECD 2023

130 people moved from Madagascar to Japan.

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