Cost of living comparison

Zambia

compared to

Lesotho

Lesotho vs. Zambia Cost of Living Summary

Lesotho is 32.4% cheaper than Zambia overall.

Restaurants: pay 71.2% more in Lesotho
Groceries: pay 17.8% less in Lesotho
Transportation: pay 6.0% more in Lesotho
Housing: pay 65.1% less in Lesotho
Childcare: pay 83.6% less in Lesotho
Entertainment and Sports: pay 19.2% less in Lesotho
Clothing: pay 2.4 times more in Lesotho

The cost of clothing, restaurants, and transportation in Lesotho are more expensive than in Zambia. Expenses including childcare, housing, entertainment and sports, and groceries are lower in Lesotho. Notably, clothing is significantly more expensive in Lesotho.

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Lesotho vs. Zambia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Lesotho instead of Zambia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 71.2% more for restaurants

	Zambia	Lesotho
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.53 ZMW110.20	$9.01 LSL148.38	+63.0%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.03 ZMW100.18	$8.41 LSL138.49	+67.3%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.63 ZMW12.52	$1.07 LSL17.56	+69.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.36 ZMW7.20	$0.84 LSL13.85	+132.8%
Average			+71.2%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - Cost of restaurants

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pay 17.8% less for groceries

	Zambia	Lesotho
Bread 1 loaf	$1.18 ZMW23.48	$0.83 LSL13.60	-29.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.15 ZMW102.63	$3.30 LSL54.39	-35.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.37 ZMW126.88	$4.38 LSL72.07	-31.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.77 ZMW35.36	$1.54 LSL25.32	-13.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.87 ZMW57.22	$2.79 LSL45.98	-2.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.11 ZMW22.03	$0.85 LSL14.02	-22.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.10 ZMW21.94	$1.02 LSL16.71	-7.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 ZMW32.94	$1.23 LSL20.19	-25.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZMW13.88	$1.09 LSL17.95	+56.4%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16 ZMW23.20	$0.71 LSL11.66	-39.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.83 ZMW16.51	$0.73 LSL12.00	-12.0%
Average			-17.8%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - Cost of groceries

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pay 6.0% more for transportation

	Zambia	Lesotho
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.47 ZMW108.98	$4.98 LSL81.93	-9.0%
Monthly public transit pass	$50.15 ZMW999.41	$30.04 LSL494.60	-40.1%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	$21,030.86 LSL346K	+178.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.58 ZMW290.52	$6.01 LSL98.92	-58.8%
Average			+6.0%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - Cost of transportation

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pay 65.1% less for housing

	Zambia	Lesotho
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	$38.30 LSL630.53	-30.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$280.45 ZMW5,588.55	$93.14 LSL1,533.25	-66.8%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$165.11 ZMW3,290.10	$55.58 LSL915.01	-66.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	??
Average			-65.1%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - Cost of housing

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pay 83.6% less for childcare

	Zambia	Lesotho
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	$52.06 LSL857.06	-62.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	$1,181.73 LSL19,454.17	-92.9%
Average			-83.6%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - Cost of childcare

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pay 19.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Zambia	Lesotho
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.26 ZMW25.05	$1.80 LSL29.68	+43.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.82 ZMW56.21	$2.00 LSL32.97	-29.0%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.02 ZMW60.11	$5.11 LSL84.08	+69.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	$23.03 LSL379.19	-57.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.03 ZMW120.22	??
Average			-19.2%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.4 times more for clothing

	Zambia	Lesotho
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$23.28 ZMW463.85	$46.07 LSL758.38	+97.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.45 ZMW307.88	$55.58 LSL915.01	+259.7%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$45.19 ZMW900.42	$104.15 LSL1,714.61	+130.5%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	$150.22 LSL2,472.99	+107.1%
Average			+141.5%

Zambia vs. Lesotho - 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: Zambia vs. Lesotho

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Lesotho?

Quality of Life Comparison · 20 statistics

Be 3.0 times more likely to have internet access in Lesotho

Size Comparison · See true size

Zambia is about 25 times bigger than Lesotho.

Moving from Zambia to Lesotho · UN DESA 2020

127 people born in Zambia live in Lesotho.

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