Cost of living comparison

Malawi

compared to

Russia

Russia vs. Malawi Cost of Living Summary

Russia is 42.5% more expensive than Malawi overall.

Restaurants: pay 37.0% more in Russia
Groceries: pay 17.9% less in Russia
Transportation: pay 9.1% more in Russia
Housing: pay 95.3% more in Russia
Childcare: pay 4.3 times more in Russia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 0.1% less in Russia
Clothing: pay 81.6% more in Russia

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

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Russia vs. Malawi Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 37.0% more for restaurants

	Malawi	Russia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.50 MWK7,814.70	$10.83 RUB894.72	+140.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$8.57 MWK14,880.81	$6.39 RUB528.16	-25.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.06 MWK1,845.41	$1.16 RUB95.62	+8.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.52 MWK902.91	$0.60 RUB49.27	+14.7%
Average			+37.0%

Malawi vs. Russia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 17.9% less for groceries

	Malawi	Russia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.58 MWK2,738.49	$0.77 RUB63.38	-51.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.83 MWK8,388.22	$5.51 RUB455.14	+14.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.31 MWK7,492.69	$4.39 RUB362.53	+1.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.31 MWK4,003.47	$1.57 RUB129.78	-31.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.46 MWK4,278.75	$2.44 RUB201.91	-0.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.09 MWK1,884.46	$0.84 RUB69.40	-22.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 MWK1,411.72	$0.80 RUB66.30	-1.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 MWK1,557.11	$0.81 RUB67.22	-9.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 MWK1,319.77	$1.33 RUB109.55	+74.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.76 MWK1,319.61	$0.35 RUB29.18	-53.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.53 MWK920.74	$0.28 RUB23.52	-46.3%
Average			-17.9%

Malawi vs. Russia - Cost of groceries

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pay 9.1% more for transportation

	Malawi	Russia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.95 MWK10,334.67	$3.08 RUB254.77	-48.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	$24.17 RUB1,997.57	+459.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$35,205.31 MWK61M	$32,081.81 RUB3M	-8.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$12.75 MWK22,137.83	$5.45 RUB450.28	-57.3%
Average			+9.1%

Malawi vs. Russia - Cost of transportation

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pay 95.3% more for housing

	Malawi	Russia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$61.21 MWK106K	$8.47 RUB700.03	-86.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$384.08 MWK667K	$496.53 RUB41,028.91	+29.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$99.97 MWK174K	$335.29 RUB27,705.54	+235.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$27.53 MWK47,807.03	$92.30 RUB7,626.55	+235.3%
Average			+95.3%

Malawi vs. Russia - Cost of housing

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pay 4.3 times more for childcare

	Malawi	Russia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$370.40 MWK643K	$402.75 RUB33,279.52	+8.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$593.71 MWK1M	$9,958.40 RUB823K	+1577.3%
Average			+327.1%

Malawi vs. Russia - Cost of childcare

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pay 0.1% less for entertainment and sports

	Malawi	Russia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.64 MWK2,846.35	$2.06 RUB170.10	+25.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.97 MWK5,154.08	$2.73 RUB225.71	-8.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.40 MWK4,173.70	$2.85 RUB235.62	+18.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$45.11 MWK78,336.01	$37.43 RUB3,092.83	-17.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$6.26 RUB517.18
Average			-0.1%

Malawi vs. Russia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 81.6% more for clothing

	Malawi	Russia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$43.37 MWK75,316.66	$83.60 RUB6,907.85	+92.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$39.87 MWK69,239.08	$55.20 RUB4,561.14	+38.4%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$48.90 MWK84,923.42	$125.97 RUB10,408.90	+157.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$70.38 MWK122K	$111.42 RUB9,206.92	+58.3%
Average			+81.6%

Malawi vs. Russia - 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. Russia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Russia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Make 26.1 times more money in Russia

Size Comparison · See true size

Malawi is about 144 times smaller than Russia.

Moving from Malawi to Russia · UN DESA 2020

27 people born in Malawi live in Russia.

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