Cost of living comparison

Zimbabwe

compared to

Zambia

Zambia vs. Zimbabwe Cost of Living Summary

Zambia is 6.4% cheaper than Zimbabwe overall.

Restaurants: pay 16.1% less in Zambia
Groceries: pay 22.1% more in Zambia
Transportation: pay 33.5% less in Zambia
Housing: pay 10.6% less in Zambia
Childcare: pay 7.2% more in Zambia
Entertainment and Sports: pay 1.0% more in Zambia
Clothing: pay 11.4% more in Zambia

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

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Zambia vs. Zimbabwe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 16.1% less for restaurants

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$7.25 ZWL2,334.50	$5.53 ZMW110.20	-23.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$5.38 ZWL1,730.75	$5.03 ZMW100.18	-6.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.73 ZWL234.79	$0.63 ZMW12.52	-13.8%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.42 ZWL135.90	$0.36 ZMW7.20	-14.4%
Average			-16.1%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - Cost of restaurants

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pay 22.1% more for groceries

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Bread 1 loaf	$1.00 ZWL322.00	$1.18 ZMW23.48	+17.8%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.28 ZWL1,701.44	$5.15 ZMW102.63	-2.5%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.96 ZWL1,919.26	$6.37 ZMW126.88	+6.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.90 ZWL611.53	$1.77 ZMW35.36	-6.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.12 ZWL682.33	$2.87 ZMW57.22	+35.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.10 ZWL353.72	$1.11 ZMW22.03	+0.6%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.73 ZWL236.30	$1.10 ZMW21.94	+50.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.02 ZWL328.63	$1.65 ZMW32.94	+62.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 ZWL188.63	$0.70 ZMW13.88	+18.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.67 ZWL217.09	$1.16 ZMW23.20	+72.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.72 ZWL231.09	$0.83 ZMW16.51	+15.5%
Average			+22.1%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - Cost of groceries

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pay 33.5% less for transportation

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.57 ZWL2,116.06	$5.47 ZMW108.98	-16.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$45.00 ZWL14,490.00	$50.15 ZMW999.41	+11.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,500.00 ZWL8M	$7,541.11 ZMW150K	-67.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$19.50 ZWL6,279.00	$14.58 ZMW290.52	-25.2%
Average			-33.5%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - Cost of transportation

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pay 10.6% less for housing

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$88.24 ZWL28,414.33	$54.99 ZMW1,095.72	-37.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$282.50 ZWL90,965.00	$280.45 ZMW5,588.55	-0.7%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$212.05 ZWL68,280.10	$165.11 ZMW3,290.10	-22.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$55.83 ZWL17,977.33	$61.51 ZMW1,225.74	+10.2%
Average			-10.6%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - Cost of housing

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pay 7.2% more for childcare

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$331.89 ZWL107K	$138.25 ZMW2,754.96	-58.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,027.78 ZWL2M	$16,638.36 ZMW332K	+176.0%
Average			+7.2%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - Cost of childcare

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pay 1.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.38 ZWL442.75	$1.26 ZMW25.05	-8.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.56 ZWL825.12	$2.82 ZMW56.21	+10.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.75 ZWL563.50	$3.02 ZMW60.11	+72.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$39.58 ZWL12,745.83	$54.67 ZMW1,089.46	+38.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$10.00 ZWL3,220.00	$6.03 ZMW120.22	-39.7%
Average			+1.0%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 11.4% more for clothing

	Zimbabwe	Zambia
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$22.24 ZWL7,160.03	$23.28 ZMW463.85	+4.7%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$16.41 ZWL5,282.85	$15.45 ZMW307.88	-5.8%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$42.46 ZWL13,673.21	$45.19 ZMW900.42	+6.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$49.35 ZWL15,890.90	$72.53 ZMW1,445.30	+47.0%
Average			+11.4%

Zimbabwe vs. Zambia - 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: Zimbabwe vs. Zambia

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Zambia?

Quality of Life Comparison · 21 statistics

Be 58.9% less likely to have internet access in Zambia

Size Comparison · See true size

Zimbabwe is about 1.9 times smaller than Zambia.

Moving from Zimbabwe to Zambia · UN DESA 2020

16,816 people born in Zimbabwe live in Zambia.

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