Cost of living comparison

compared to

Ulaanbaatar vs. Lilongwe Cost of Living Summary

Ulaanbaatar is 57.0% more expensive than Lilongwe.

Restaurants: pay 30.7% more in Ulaanbaatar
Groceries: pay 24.3% more in Ulaanbaatar
Transportation: pay 24.8% more in Ulaanbaatar
Housing: pay 2.6 times more in Ulaanbaatar
Childcare: pay 85.5% more in Ulaanbaatar
Entertainment and Sports: pay 21.0% more in Ulaanbaatar

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

Ulaanbaatar vs. Lilongwe Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 30.7% more for restaurants

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$3.46 MWK6,025.48	$5.08 MNT17,250.00	+46.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	??	$4.86 MNT16,500.00
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.91 MWK1,593.57	$0.84 MNT2,852.94	-8.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.34 MWK592.06	$0.52 MNT1,773.33	+53.5%
Average			+30.7%

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of restaurants

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pay 24.3% more for groceries

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Bread 1 loaf	$1.41 MWK2,461.29	$0.92 MNT3,124.01	-34.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.88 MWK13,722.98	$6.82 MNT23,187.50	-13.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.24 MWK9,118.28	$5.44 MNT18,498.60	+4.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.06 MWK5,320.84	$2.21 MNT7,518.68	-27.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.30 MWK2,255.42	$2.04 MNT6,945.64	+57.8%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.07 MWK1,855.10	$1.69 MNT5,745.51	+58.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.59 MWK1,031.79	$1.30 MNT4,430.09	+120.1%
Oranges (1 lb)	??	$1.91 MNT6,503.39
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK981.86	$1.47 MNT5,003.13	+161.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.84 MWK1,456.97	$0.31 MNT1,037.72	-63.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.56 MWK981.72	$0.46 MNT1,547.26	-19.2%
Average			+24.3%

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of groceries

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pay 24.8% more for transportation

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.43 MWK11,193.70	$4.00 MNT13,586.19	-37.8%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.32 MWK7,527.24	$8.09 MNT27,500.00	+87.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$30,311.95 MNT103,000,000.00
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$5.30 MNT18,000.00
Average			+24.8%

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.6 times more for housing

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$62.37 MWK108,621.51	$14.66 MNT49,800.00	-76.5%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	??	$559.15 MNT1,900,000.00
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$67.61 MWK117,754.36	$428.82 MNT1,457,142.86	+534.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$53.53 MWK93,228.57	$58.64 MNT199,261.01	+9.5%
Average			+155.7%

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of housing

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pay 85.5% more for childcare

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$350.00 MWK609,571.42	$153.03 MNT520,000.00	-56.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$2,349.49 MWK4,091,941.58	$7,690.11 MNT26,131,000.00	+227.3%
Average			+85.5%

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of childcare

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pay 21.0% more for entertainment and sports

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.08 MWK1,881.28	$1.77 MNT6,000.00	+63.5%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.21 MWK5,588.97	$2.52 MNT8,557.14	-21.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$1.59 MWK2,763.16	$1.77 MNT6,000.00	+11.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.05 MWK76,723.90	$59.96 MNT203,750.00	+36.1%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.95 MWK6,880.42	$4.56 MNT15,500.00	+15.5%
Average			+21.0%

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	Lilongwe	Ulaanbaatar
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$66.51 MNT226,000.00
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$50.62 MNT171,999.80
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$88.29 MNT300,000.00
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$142.24 MNT483,333.33

Lilongwe vs. Ulaanbaatar - 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: January 2025

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