Cost of living comparison

South Africa

compared to

Namibia

Namibia vs. South Africa Cost of Living Summary

Namibia is 2.1% cheaper than South Africa overall.

Restaurants: pay 11.8% less in Namibia
Groceries: pay 23.0% more in Namibia
Transportation: pay 21.4% less in Namibia
Housing: pay 2.7% less in Namibia
Childcare: pay 6.4% more in Namibia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 8.8% less in Namibia
Clothing: pay 0.2% more in Namibia

The cost of groceries, childcare, and clothing in Namibia are more expensive than in South Africa. Expenses including transportation, restaurants, entertainment and sports, and housing are lower in Namibia.

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Namibia vs. South Africa Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Namibia instead of South Africa, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 11.8% less for restaurants

	South Africa	Namibia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$10.21 ZAR168.71	$8.82 NAD145.91	-13.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.91 ZAR97.65	$5.59 NAD92.52	-5.4%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.08 ZAR17.90	$0.84 NAD13.82	-22.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.84 ZAR13.80	$0.73 NAD12.05	-12.8%
Average			-11.8%

South Africa vs. Namibia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 23.0% more for groceries

	South Africa	Namibia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.07 ZAR17.62	$1.07 NAD17.66	+0.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.08 ZAR67.44	$4.52 NAD74.79	+10.7%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.58 ZAR75.61	$6.75 NAD111.72	+47.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.56 ZAR42.35	$2.40 NAD39.75	-6.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.31 ZAR38.22	$2.90 NAD47.92	+25.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.81 ZAR13.42	$1.19 NAD19.62	+46.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.74 ZAR12.15	$0.83 NAD13.76	+13.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.79 ZAR12.97	$0.84 NAD13.82	+6.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.77 ZAR12.73	$0.88 NAD14.52	+13.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.64 ZAR10.64	$1.00 NAD16.50	+54.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.66 ZAR10.87	$1.08 NAD17.94	+64.8%
Average			+23.0%

South Africa vs. Namibia - Cost of groceries

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pay 21.4% less for transportation

	South Africa	Namibia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.49 ZAR90.67	$5.02 NAD83.08	-8.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$65.15 ZAR1,076.25	$39.08 NAD646.63	-40.0%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$32,517.32 ZAR537K	$23,990.15 NAD397K	-26.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$7.35 ZAR121.39	$8.03 NAD132.81	+9.2%
Average			-21.4%

South Africa vs. Namibia - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.7% less for housing

	South Africa	Namibia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$38.93 ZAR643.18	$50.44 NAD834.55	+29.6%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$421.37 ZAR6,961.07	$460.71 NAD7,622.82	+9.3%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$369.24 ZAR6,099.94	$348.00 NAD5,757.91	-5.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$105.57 ZAR1,743.99	$74.69 NAD1,235.79	-29.3%
Average			-2.7%

South Africa vs. Namibia - Cost of housing

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pay 6.4% more for childcare

	South Africa	Namibia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$199.53 ZAR3,296.31	$208.44 NAD3,448.72	+4.5%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$4,917.78 ZAR81,241.91	$5,331.14 NAD88,207.54	+8.4%
Average			+6.4%

South Africa vs. Namibia - Cost of childcare

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pay 8.8% less for entertainment and sports

	South Africa	Namibia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.25 ZAR37.19	$1.66 NAD27.47	-26.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.25 ZAR37.24	$2.07 NAD34.27	-8.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.16 ZAR52.21	$3.31 NAD54.72	+4.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$31.59 ZAR521.88	$39.58 NAD654.92	+25.3%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$7.32 ZAR120.89	$5.41 NAD89.53	-26.1%
Average			-8.8%

South Africa vs. Namibia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 0.2% more for clothing

	South Africa	Namibia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$52.66 ZAR869.92	$60.50 NAD1,001.04	+14.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$34.13 ZAR563.81	$34.63 NAD573.02	+1.5%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$99.75 ZAR1,647.89	$89.44 NAD1,479.80	-10.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$86.61 ZAR1,430.75	$83.42 NAD1,380.32	-3.7%
Average			+0.2%

South Africa vs. Namibia - 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: South Africa vs. Namibia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Namibia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Be 40.4% less likely to be unemployed in Namibia

Size Comparison · See true size

South Africa is about 1.5 times bigger than Namibia.

Moving from South Africa to Namibia · UN DESA 2020

8,883 people born in South Africa live in Namibia.

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