Cost of living comparison

Somalia

compared to

Maldives

Male vs. Mogadishu Cost of Living Summary

Male is 2.4 times more expensive than Mogadishu.

Restaurants: pay 75.1% more in Male
Groceries: pay 47.9% more in Male
Transportation: pay 42.4% more in Male
Housing: pay 4.4 times more in Male
Childcare: pay 3.1 times more in Male
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.0 times more in Male
Clothing: pay 2.7 times more in Male

The cost of housing, childcare, clothing, entertainment and sports, restaurants, and groceries in Male are more expensive than in Mogadishu. Notably, housing, childcare, and clothing are significantly more expensive in Male.

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Male vs. Mogadishu Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Male instead of Mogadishu, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 75.1% more for restaurants

	Mogadishu	Male
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.00 SOS1,712	$6.00 MVR92.74	+100.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$4.50 SOS2,568	$9.73 MVR150.39	+116.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 SOS666	$1.63 MVR25.12	+39.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.52 SOS295	$0.30 MVR4.59	-42.5%
Average			+75.1%

Mogadishu vs. Male - Cost of restaurants

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pay 47.9% more for groceries

	Mogadishu	Male
Bread 1 loaf	$1.62 SOS928	$1.65 MVR25.57	+1.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.50 SOS1,427	$5.34 MVR82.43	+113.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.92 SOS2,809	$7.69 MVR118.80	+56.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.90 SOS1,084	$1.92 MVR29.70	+1.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.76 SOS1,003	$2.77 MVR42.73	+57.3%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.70 SOS971	$1.80 MVR27.83	+5.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.45 SOS259	$1.39 MVR21.40	+205.4%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.36 SOS777	$1.85 MVR28.65	+36.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.58 SOS331	$1.22 MVR18.84	+110.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.68 SOS388	$0.93 MVR14.40	+37.0%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.79 SOS453	$0.86 MVR13.30	+8.4%
Average			+47.9%

Mogadishu vs. Male - Cost of groceries

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pay 42.4% more for transportation

	Mogadishu	Male
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.38 SOS1,930	$3.81 MVR58.81	+12.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$30.82 MVR476.23
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$32,446.46 MVR501K
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.40 SOS3,082	$17.52 MVR270.70	+224.5%
Average			+42.4%

Mogadishu vs. Male - Cost of transportation

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pay 4.4 times more for housing

	Mogadishu	Male
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$66.67 SOS38,051	$73.00 MVR1,127.92	+9.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$195.00 SOS111K	$951.14 MVR14,695.19	+387.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$77.50 SOS44,234	$699.92 MVR10,813.71	+803.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$122.35 SOS69,835	$90.98 MVR1,405.60	-25.6%
Average			+336.8%

Mogadishu vs. Male - Cost of housing

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pay 3.1 times more for childcare

	Mogadishu	Male
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$78.33 SOS44,710	$184.98 MVR2,857.90	+136.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$760.00 SOS434K	$3,004.83 MVR46,424.59	+295.4%
Average			+205.6%

Mogadishu vs. Male - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.0 times more for entertainment and sports

	Mogadishu	Male
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	??	$4.87 MVR75.19
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 SOS1,142	$3.55 MVR54.84	+77.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$14.93 MVR230.60
Monthly membership at local gym	$31.67 SOS18,074	$70.81 MVR1,093.98	+123.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$9.73 MVR150.39
Average			+101.8%

Mogadishu vs. Male - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.7 times more for clothing

	Mogadishu	Male
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$14.00 SOS7,991	$39.51 MVR610.48	+182.2%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$14.00 SOS7,991	$49.64 MVR766.88	+254.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$25.00 SOS14,269	$87.13 MVR1,346.11	+248.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$32.50 SOS18,550	$52.52 MVR811.39	+61.6%
Average			+174.0%

Mogadishu vs. Male - 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 November 2026). How we calculate this

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See the cost of living in Somalia vs. Maldives. This provides a comparison of the average cost of living from cities within Somalia and Maldives.

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