Cost of living comparison

Lilongwe, Malawi

compared to

Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo

Brazzaville vs. Lilongwe Cost of Living Summary

Brazzaville is 3.0 times more expensive than Lilongwe.

Restaurants: pay 3.7 times more in Brazzaville
Groceries: pay 42.5% more in Brazzaville
Transportation: pay 3.0 times more in Brazzaville
Housing: pay 5.9 times more in Brazzaville
Childcare: pay 94.2% more in Brazzaville
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.1 times more in Brazzaville

The cost of housing, restaurants, transportation, entertainment and sports, childcare, and groceries in Brazzaville are more expensive than in Lilongwe. Notably, housing, restaurants, and transportation are significantly more expensive in Brazzaville.

Brazzaville vs. Lilongwe Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Brazzaville instead of Lilongwe, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 3.7 times more for restaurants

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.46 MWK6,002.48	$14.38 FCFA8,185	+315.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	??	$7.87 FCFA4,480
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.91 MWK1,587.49	$2.30 FCFA1,310	+151.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.34 MWK589.80	$1.49 FCFA850	+339.0%
Average			+268.7%

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of restaurants

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pay 42.5% more for groceries

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Bread 1 loaf	$1.41 MWK2,451.89	$4.62 FCFA2,629	+226.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 MWK13,670.60	$3.38 FCFA1,924	-57.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.24 MWK9,083.47	$8.12 FCFA4,621	+55.1%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.06 MWK5,300.53	$2.94 FCFA1,673	-3.8%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.30 MWK2,246.81	$2.16 FCFA1,229	+66.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.07 MWK1,848.02	$1.11 FCFA633	+4.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.59 MWK1,027.85	$0.75 FCFA426	+26.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	??	$1.66 FCFA942
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK978.11	$1.16 FCFA661	+106.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.84 MWK1,451.41	$0.84 FCFA478	+0.3%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK977.98	$0.57 FCFA323	+0.6%
Average			+42.5%

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of groceries

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pay 3.0 times more for transportation

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.43 MWK11,150.97	$4.29 FCFA2,444	-33.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,498.51	$23.44 FCFA13,342	+442.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$29,343.54 FCFA16,701,897
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$12.45 FCFA7,086
Average			+204.6%

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of transportation

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pay 5.9 times more for housing

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$62.37 MWK108,206.92	$41.25 FCFA23,476	-33.9%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	??	$589.16 FCFA335,339
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$67.61 MWK117,304.91	$360.53 FCFA205,208	+433.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$53.53 MWK92,872.74	$621.28 FCFA353,625	+1060.6%
Average			+486.6%

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of housing

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pay 94.2% more for childcare

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$350.00 MWK607,244.81	$49.10 FCFA27,947	-86.0%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,349.49 MWK4,076,323.44	$8,800.00 FCFA5,008,826	+274.5%
Average			+94.2%

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.08 MWK1,874.10	$4.85 FCFA2,762	+349.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.21 MWK5,567.64	$4.14 FCFA2,355	+28.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.59 MWK2,752.62	$3.25 FCFA1,850	+104.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.05 MWK76,431.06	$41.25 FCFA23,476	-6.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.95 MWK6,854.16	$6.34 FCFA3,609	+60.5%
Average			+107.4%

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Lilongwe	Brazzaville
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$57.50 FCFA32,728
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$60.00 FCFA34,151
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$100.00 FCFA56,918
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$55.00 FCFA31,305

Lilongwe vs. Brazzaville - Cost of clothing

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: June 2025

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