Cost of living comparison

Malawi

compared to

Colombia

Colombia vs. Malawi Cost of Living Summary

Colombia is 89.7% more expensive than Malawi overall.

Restaurants: pay 44.7% more in Colombia
Groceries: pay 14.1% more in Colombia
Transportation: pay 68.5% more in Colombia
Housing: pay 2.9 times more in Colombia
Childcare: pay 4.7 times more in Colombia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.9% more in Colombia
Clothing: pay 84.4% more in Colombia

The cost of childcare, housing, clothing, transportation, restaurants, and entertainment and sports in Colombia are more expensive than in Malawi. Notably, childcare, housing, and clothing are significantly more expensive in Colombia.

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Colombia vs. Malawi Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 44.7% more for restaurants

	Malawi	Colombia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.50 MWK7,814.70	$7.09 COP22,489.29	+57.5%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.57 MWK14,880.81	$9.93 COP31,528.63	+15.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.06 MWK1,845.41	$1.50 COP4,759.09	+41.1%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.52 MWK902.91	$1.15 COP3,637.93	+120.5%
Average			+44.7%

Malawi vs. Colombia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 14.1% more for groceries

	Malawi	Colombia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.58 MWK2,738.49	$2.08 COP6,604.13	+31.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.83 MWK8,388.22	$3.94 COP12,511.51	-18.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.31 MWK7,492.69	$5.55 COP17,600.16	+28.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.31 MWK4,003.47	$3.08 COP9,765.50	+33.5%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.46 MWK4,278.75	$4.90 COP15,548.14	+98.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.09 MWK1,884.46	$1.60 COP5,080.61	+47.5%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 MWK1,411.72	$0.63 COP1,990.45	-22.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 MWK1,557.11	$0.72 COP2,297.32	-19.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 MWK1,319.77	$0.88 COP2,778.06	+15.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 MWK1,319.61	$0.68 COP2,174.11	-9.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 MWK920.74	$0.64 COP2,046.26	+21.6%
Average			+14.1%

Malawi vs. Colombia - Cost of groceries

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pay 68.5% more for transportation

	Malawi	Colombia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.95 MWK10,334.67	$4.89 COP15,507.12	-17.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	$57.51 COP183K	+1230.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,205.31 MWK61M	$24,696.92 COP78M	-29.8%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.75 MWK22,137.83	$21.04 COP66,775.93	+65.0%
Average			+68.5%

Malawi vs. Colombia - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.9 times more for housing

	Malawi	Colombia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.21 MWK106K	$27.89 COP88,530.84	-54.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$384.08 MWK667K	$745.73 COP2M	+94.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$99.97 MWK174K	$482.25 COP2M	+382.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$27.53 MWK47,807.03	$101.48 COP322K	+268.6%
Average			+186.1%

Malawi vs. Colombia - Cost of housing

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pay 4.7 times more for childcare

	Malawi	Colombia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$370.40 MWK643K	$597.35 COP2M	+61.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$593.71 MWK1M	$8,009.31 COP25M	+1249.0%
Average			+366.4%

Malawi vs. Colombia - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.9% more for entertainment and sports

	Malawi	Colombia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.64 MWK2,846.35	$2.59 COP8,214.62	+57.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.97 MWK5,154.08	$2.72 COP8,641.67	-8.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.40 MWK4,173.70	$4.03 COP12,788.35	+67.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$45.11 MWK78,336.01	$41.34 COP131K	-8.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$6.65 COP21,122.50
Average			+14.9%

Malawi vs. Colombia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 84.4% more for clothing

	Malawi	Colombia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$43.37 MWK75,316.66	$82.92 COP263K	+91.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.87 MWK69,239.08	$53.80 COP171K	+34.9%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$48.90 MWK84,923.42	$134.00 COP425K	+174.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$70.38 MWK122K	$115.03 COP365K	+63.4%
Average			+84.4%

Malawi vs. Colombia - 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: Malawi vs. Colombia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Colombia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 24 statistics

Make 12.7 times more money in Colombia

Size Comparison · See true size

Malawi is about 10 times smaller than Colombia.

Moving from Malawi to Colombia · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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