Cost of living comparison

Zambia

compared to

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia Cost of Living Summary

Zimbabwe is 6.8% more expensive than Zambia overall.

Restaurants: pay 19.2% more in Zimbabwe
Groceries: pay 18.1% less in Zimbabwe
Transportation: pay 50.3% more in Zimbabwe
Housing: pay 11.9% more in Zimbabwe
Childcare: pay 6.7% less in Zimbabwe
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.0% less in Zimbabwe
Clothing: pay 10.3% less in Zimbabwe

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

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Zimbabwe vs. Zambia Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 19.2% more for restaurants

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$5.53 ZMW110.20	$7.25 ZWL2,334.50	+31.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.03 ZMW100.18	$5.38 ZWL1,730.75	+6.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.63 ZMW12.52	$0.73 ZWL234.79	+16.0%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.36 ZMW7.20	$0.42 ZWL135.90	+16.8%
Average			+19.2%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - Cost of restaurants

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pay 18.1% less for groceries

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Bread 1 loaf	$1.18 ZMW23.48	$1.00 ZWL322.00	-15.1%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.15 ZMW102.63	$5.28 ZWL1,701.44	+2.6%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.37 ZMW126.88	$5.96 ZWL1,919.26	-6.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.77 ZMW35.36	$1.90 ZWL611.53	+7.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.87 ZMW57.22	$2.12 ZWL682.33	-26.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.11 ZMW22.03	$1.10 ZWL353.72	-0.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.10 ZMW21.94	$0.73 ZWL236.30	-33.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 ZMW32.94	$1.02 ZWL328.63	-38.3%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.70 ZMW13.88	$0.59 ZWL188.63	-15.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.16 ZMW23.20	$0.67 ZWL217.09	-42.1%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.83 ZMW16.51	$0.72 ZWL231.09	-13.4%
Average			-18.1%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - Cost of groceries

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pay 50.3% more for transportation

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.47 ZMW108.98	$6.57 ZWL2,116.06	+20.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$50.15 ZMW999.41	$45.00 ZWL14,490.00	-10.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	$23,500.00 ZWL8M	+211.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$14.58 ZMW290.52	$19.50 ZWL6,279.00	+33.7%
Average			+50.3%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - Cost of transportation

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pay 11.9% more for housing

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	$88.24 ZWL28,414.33	+60.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$280.45 ZMW5,588.55	$282.50 ZWL90,965.00	+0.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$165.11 ZMW3,290.10	$212.05 ZWL68,280.10	+28.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	$55.83 ZWL17,977.33	-9.2%
Average			+11.9%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - Cost of housing

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pay 6.7% less for childcare

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	$331.89 ZWL107K	+140.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	$6,027.78 ZWL2M	-63.8%
Average			-6.7%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.0% less for entertainment and sports

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.26 ZMW25.05	$1.38 ZWL442.75	+9.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.82 ZMW56.21	$2.56 ZWL825.12	-9.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.02 ZMW60.11	$1.75 ZWL563.50	-42.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	$39.58 ZWL12,745.83	-27.6%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.03 ZMW120.22	$10.00 ZWL3,220.00	+65.8%
Average			-1.0%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 10.3% less for clothing

	Zambia	Zimbabwe
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$23.28 ZMW463.85	$22.24 ZWL7,160.03	-4.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.45 ZMW307.88	$16.41 ZWL5,282.85	+6.2%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$45.19 ZMW900.42	$42.46 ZWL13,673.21	-6.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	$49.35 ZWL15,890.90	-32.0%
Average			-10.3%

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe - 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. Zimbabwe

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Zimbabwe?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Be 2.4 times more likely to have internet access in Zimbabwe

Size Comparison · See true size

Zambia is about 1.9 times bigger than Zimbabwe.

Moving from Zambia to Zimbabwe · UN DESA 2020

31,692 people born in Zambia live in Zimbabwe.

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