Cost of living comparison

Malawi

compared to

Namibia

Namibia vs. Malawi Cost of Living Summary

Namibia is 47.6% more expensive than Malawi overall.

Restaurants: pay 17.7% more in Namibia
Groceries: pay 13.2% more in Namibia
Transportation: pay 39.1% more in Namibia
Housing: pay 2.0 times more in Namibia
Childcare: pay 2.2 times more in Namibia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 8.9% less in Namibia
Clothing: pay 27.3% more in Namibia

The cost of childcare, housing, transportation, clothing, restaurants, and groceries in Namibia are more expensive than in Malawi. Notably, childcare and housing are significantly more expensive in Namibia.

Planning a move to Namibia? Get up to 5 free, no-obligation quotes from vetted international movers. Get free quotes →

Namibia vs. Malawi Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 17.7% more for restaurants

	Malawi	Namibia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.50 MWK7,814.70	$8.82 NAD145.17	+96.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.57 MWK14,880.81	$5.59 NAD92.05	-34.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.06 MWK1,845.41	$0.84 NAD13.75	-21.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.52 MWK902.91	$0.73 NAD11.99	+40.1%
Average			+17.7%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of restaurants

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 13.2% more for groceries

	Malawi	Namibia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.58 MWK2,738.49	$1.07 NAD17.57	-32.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.83 MWK8,388.22	$4.52 NAD74.42	-6.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.31 MWK7,492.69	$6.75 NAD111.16	+56.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.31 MWK4,003.47	$2.40 NAD39.55	+4.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.46 MWK4,278.75	$2.90 NAD47.68	+17.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.09 MWK1,884.46	$1.19 NAD19.52	+9.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 MWK1,411.72	$0.83 NAD13.69	+2.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 MWK1,557.11	$0.84 NAD13.75	-6.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 MWK1,319.77	$0.88 NAD14.45	+15.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 MWK1,319.61	$1.00 NAD16.41	+31.2%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 MWK920.74	$1.08 NAD17.85	+104.5%
Average			+13.2%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of groceries

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 39.1% more for transportation

	Malawi	Namibia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.95 MWK10,334.67	$5.02 NAD82.67	-15.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	$39.08 NAD643.38	+804.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,205.31 MWK61M	$23,990.15 NAD395K	-31.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.75 MWK22,137.83	$8.03 NAD132.14	-37.0%
Average			+39.1%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of transportation

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.0 times more for housing

	Malawi	Namibia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.21 MWK106K	$50.44 NAD830.34	-17.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$384.08 MWK667K	$460.71 NAD7,584.44	+20.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$99.97 MWK174K	$348.00 NAD5,728.91	+248.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$27.53 MWK47,807.03	$74.69 NAD1,229.57	+171.3%
Average			+103.8%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of housing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 2.2 times more for childcare

	Malawi	Namibia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$370.40 MWK643K	$208.44 NAD3,431.35	-43.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$593.71 MWK1M	$5,331.14 NAD87,763.39	+797.9%
Average			+124.8%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of childcare

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 8.9% less for entertainment and sports

	Malawi	Namibia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.64 MWK2,846.35	$1.66 NAD27.33	+1.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.97 MWK5,154.08	$2.07 NAD34.09	-30.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.40 MWK4,173.70	$3.31 NAD54.44	+37.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$45.11 MWK78,336.01	$39.58 NAD651.63	-12.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$5.41 NAD89.08
Average			-8.9%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of entertainment and sports

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

pay 27.3% more for clothing

	Malawi	Namibia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$43.37 MWK75,316.66	$60.50 NAD996.00	+39.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.87 MWK69,239.08	$34.63 NAD570.13	-13.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$48.90 MWK84,923.42	$89.44 NAD1,472.35	+82.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$70.38 MWK122K	$83.42 NAD1,373.37	+18.5%
Average			+27.3%

Malawi vs. Namibia - Cost of clothing

Improve prices · Change currency (USD)

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. Namibia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Namibia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 19 statistics

Make 7.3 times more money in Namibia

Size Comparison · See true size

Malawi is about 7 times smaller than Namibia.

Moving from Malawi to Namibia · UN DESA 2020

386 people born in Malawi live in Namibia.

More cost comparisons

Malawi vs.

South Africa

Malawi vs.

Zimbabwe

Malawi vs.

Mozambique

Malawi vs.

United Kingdom

Malawi vs.

Zambia

Malawi vs.

Tanzania

Malawi vs.

Australia

Malawi vs.

Botswana

Share this

Compare by city

For example, try comparing the cost of living in Lilongwe vs. Windhoek

Help us improve these prices

MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative project. Please enter price information for your location to help assist us in making these comparisons more accurate. Learn more

Add prices for Malawi

Add prices for Namibia

Ask the Elsewhere Community

Join the Elsewhere community and ask a question about Namibia or Malawi. It's a free, question-and-answer based forum to discuss what life is like in countries and cities around the world.