Cost of living comparison

compared to

South Africa vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost of Living Summary

South Africa is 35.1% more expensive than Sao Tome and Principe overall.

Restaurants: pay 50.4% less in South Africa
Groceries: pay 43.1% less in South Africa
Transportation: pay 23.0% less in South Africa
Housing: pay 8.1% more in South Africa
Entertainment and Sports: pay 8.3% less in South Africa
Clothing: pay 4.3 times more in South Africa

The cost of clothing and housing in South Africa are more expensive than in Sao Tome and Principe. Expenses including restaurants, groceries, transportation, and entertainment and sports are lower in South Africa. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in South Africa.

South Africa vs. Sao Tome and Principe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 50.4% less for restaurants

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$29.20 STD650,623	$9.33 ZAR159.73	-68.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$11.68 STD260,249	$5.11 ZAR87.49	-56.2%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.92 STD42,768	$1.03 ZAR17.65	-46.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.17 STD26,025	$0.80 ZAR13.74	-31.2%
Average			-50.4%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - Cost of restaurants

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pay 43.1% less for groceries

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Bread 1 loaf	$1.08 STD24,088	$1.00 ZAR17.16	-7.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$10.22 STD227,718	$3.88 ZAR66.47	-62.0%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.97 STD132,995	$4.37 ZAR74.79	-26.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.09 STD113,503	$2.33 ZAR39.93	-54.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$9.27 STD206,583	$2.13 ZAR36.52	-77.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.12 STD47,219	$0.73 ZAR12.46	-65.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.53 STD11,805	$0.65 ZAR11.16	+23.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.85 STD41,316	$0.68 ZAR11.70	-63.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.59 STD35,414	$0.71 ZAR12.14	-55.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 STD26,561	$0.59 ZAR10.02	-50.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.93 STD20,658	$0.60 ZAR10.27	-35.3%
Average			-43.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - Cost of groceries

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pay 23.0% less for transportation

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.40 STD142,518	$4.92 ZAR84.25	-23.0%
Monthly public transit pass	??	$56.18 ZAR961.29
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$21,394.82 ZAR366,106.47
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$9.34 ZAR159.79
Average			-23.0%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - Cost of transportation

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pay 8.1% more for housing

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42 STD1,613,544	$39.36 ZAR673.48	-45.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$350.40 STD7,807,473	$404.16 ZAR6,915.94	+15.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$233.60 STD5,204,982	$361.59 ZAR6,187.51	+54.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$88.13 ZAR1,508.04
Average			+8.1%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$173.48 ZAR2,968.50
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$3,962.11 ZAR67,799.29

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - Cost of childcare

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pay 8.3% less for entertainment and sports

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.67 STD37,216	$2.18 ZAR37.27	+30.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.34 STD52,050	$2.05 ZAR35.06	-12.3%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.34 STD52,050	$2.96 ZAR50.72	+26.9%
Monthly membership at local gym	$37.38 STD832,797	$30.26 ZAR517.83	-19.0%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$21.02 STD468,448	$6.85 ZAR117.19	-67.4%
Average			-8.3%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 4.3 times more for clothing

	Sao Tome and Principe	South Africa
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$50.74 ZAR868.31
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$32.75 ZAR560.46
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$94.19 ZAR1,611.79
Men's business shoes (leather)	$19.16 STD426,809	$81.80 ZAR1,399.67	+327.0%
Average			+327.0%

Sao Tome and Principe vs. South Africa - 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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