Cost of living comparison

Somalia

compared to

Malawi

Malawi vs. Somalia Cost of Living Summary

Malawi is 46.2% more expensive than Somalia overall.

Restaurants: pay 33.3% more in Malawi
Groceries: pay 3.4% more in Malawi
Transportation: pay 43.5% more in Malawi
Housing: pay 43.5% more in Malawi
Childcare: pay 2.9 times more in Malawi
Entertainment and Sports: pay 63.2% more in Malawi
Clothing: pay 2.8 times more in Malawi

The cost of childcare, clothing, entertainment and sports, transportation, housing, and restaurants in Malawi are more expensive than in Somalia. Notably, childcare and clothing are significantly more expensive in Malawi.

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Malawi vs. Somalia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 33.3% more for restaurants

	Somalia	Malawi
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.33 SOS1,908	$4.50 MWK7,814.70	+35.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.00 SOS2,862	$8.57 MWK14,880.81	+71.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.04 SOS595	$1.06 MWK1,845.41	+2.3%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.76 SOS437	$0.52 MWK902.91	-31.9%
Average			+33.3%

Somalia vs. Malawi - Cost of restaurants

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pay 3.4% more for groceries

	Somalia	Malawi
Bread 1 loaf	$1.35 SOS775	$1.58 MWK2,738.49	+16.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.50 SOS1,431	$4.83 MWK8,388.22	+93.2%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.02 SOS4,020	$4.31 MWK7,492.69	-38.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.18 SOS1,250	$2.31 MWK4,003.47	+5.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.02 SOS1,157	$2.46 MWK4,278.75	+21.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.17 SOS671	$1.09 MWK1,884.46	-7.4%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.83 SOS476	$0.81 MWK1,411.72	-2.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.13 SOS649	$0.90 MWK1,557.11	-20.9%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 SOS335	$0.76 MWK1,319.77	+29.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.62 SOS357	$0.76 MWK1,319.61	+21.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.74 SOS422	$0.53 MWK920.74	-28.1%
Average			+3.4%

Somalia vs. Malawi - Cost of groceries

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pay 43.5% more for transportation

	Somalia	Malawi
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.57 SOS2,041	$5.95 MWK10,334.67	+66.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$12.17 SOS6,968	$4.32 MWK7,505.49	-64.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$10,000.00 SOS6M	$35,205.31 MWK61M	+252.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$6.78 SOS3,882	$12.75 MWK22,137.83	+87.9%
Average			+43.5%

Somalia vs. Malawi - Cost of transportation

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pay 43.5% more for housing

	Somalia	Malawi
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$39.56 SOS22,639	$61.21 MWK106K	+54.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$143.33 SOS82,036	$384.08 MWK667K	+168.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$77.50 SOS44,357	$99.97 MWK174K	+29.0%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$78.38 SOS44,862	$27.53 MWK47,807.03	-64.9%
Average			+43.5%

Somalia vs. Malawi - Cost of housing

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pay 2.9 times more for childcare

	Somalia	Malawi
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$51.67 SOS29,571	$370.40 MWK643K	+616.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$515.00 SOS295K	$593.71 MWK1M	+15.3%
Average			+187.5%

Somalia vs. Malawi - Cost of childcare

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pay 63.2% more for entertainment and sports

	Somalia	Malawi
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	??	$1.64 MWK2,846.35
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.67 SOS954	$2.97 MWK5,154.08	+78.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.00 SOS572	$2.40 MWK4,173.70	+140.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$34.58 SOS19,794	$45.11 MWK78,336.01	+30.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	??
Average			+63.2%

Somalia vs. Malawi - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.8 times more for clothing

	Somalia	Malawi
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$12.50 SOS7,154	$43.37 MWK75,316.66	+247.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.33 SOS9,348	$39.87 MWK69,239.08	+144.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$18.50 SOS10,588	$48.90 MWK84,923.42	+164.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$25.83 SOS14,786	$70.38 MWK122K	+172.5%
Average			+179.5%

Somalia vs. Malawi - 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: Somalia vs. Malawi

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Malawi?

Quality of Life Comparison · 18 statistics

Be 73.2% less likely to be unemployed in Malawi

Size Comparison · See true size

Somalia is about 5 times bigger than Malawi.

Moving from Somalia to Malawi · UN DESA 2020

102 people born in Somalia live in Malawi.

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