Cost of living comparison

compared to

Madagascar vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

Madagascar is 6.6% cheaper than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 63.3% less in Madagascar
Groceries: pay 56.1% less in Madagascar
Transportation: pay 30.6% less in Madagascar
Housing: pay 37.5% less in Madagascar
Entertainment and Sports: pay 41.8% less in Madagascar
Clothing: pay 2.9 times more in Madagascar

Expenses including restaurants, groceries, entertainment and sports, housing, and transportation are lower in Madagascar. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in Madagascar.

Madagascar vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Madagascar instead of Sao Tome and Principe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 63.3% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$29.20 STD650,623	$3.04 MGA13,832	-89.6%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 STD260,249	$4.73 MGA21,511	-59.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92 STD42,768	$0.82 MGA3,728	-57.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 STD26,025	$0.62 MGA2,831	-46.7%
Average			-63.3%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of restaurants

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pay 56.1% less for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 STD24,088	$0.88 MGA3,987	-18.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.22 STD227,718	$5.36 MGA24,385	-47.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.97 STD132,995	$3.89 MGA17,685	-34.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 STD113,503	$1.97 MGA8,963	-61.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$9.27 STD206,583	$2.63 MGA11,982	-71.6%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.12 STD47,219	$0.64 MGA2,915	-69.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 STD11,805	$0.33 MGA1,510	-37.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.85 STD41,316	$0.57 MGA2,574	-69.5%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.59 STD35,414	$0.41 MGA1,859	-74.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 STD26,561	$0.29 MGA1,304	-75.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 STD20,658	$0.40 MGA1,841	-56.3%
Average			-56.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of groceries

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pay 30.6% less for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.40 STD142,518	$4.44 MGA20,192	-30.6%
Monthly public transit pass	??	??
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$12,651.72 MGA57,540,536
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$17.17 MGA78,091
Average			-30.6%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of transportation

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pay 37.5% less for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42 STD1,613,544	$60.23 MGA273,949	-16.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$350.40 STD7,807,473	$257.49 MGA1,171,082	-26.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$233.60 STD5,204,982	$71.69 MGA326,059	-69.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$44.95 MGA204,418
Average			-37.5%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$46.54 MGA211,667
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$8,634.52 MGA39,270,131

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of childcare

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pay 41.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.67 STD37,216	$0.82 MGA3,713	-51.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.34 STD52,050	$1.33 MGA6,046	-43.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.34 STD52,050	$1.73 MGA7,886	-25.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.38 STD832,797	$29.94 MGA136,180	-19.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$21.02 STD468,448	$6.47 MGA29,441	-69.2%
Average			-41.8%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.9 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	Madagascar
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$19.48 MGA88,581
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$17.20 MGA78,248
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$70.84 MGA322,182
Men's business shoes (leather)	$19.16 STD426,809	$55.48 MGA252,314	+189.6%
Average			+189.6%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. Madagascar - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: December 2025

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