Blantyre vs Manama - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Blantyre	Manama
🚶 Cost of living one person	$506	$1237
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1306	$2873
🏠 One person rent	$147	$660
🏘️ Family rent	$239	$1136
🍽️ Food expenses	$210	$378
🚐 Transport expenses	$98.2	$99.7
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$239	$1982
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	23	46
😀 Quality of life	30	77
🏙️ Population	800K	298K

The cost of living in Blantyre is 59% less expensive than in Manama. Cities ranked 8632nd and 4625th ($506 vs $1237) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 5th and 1st in Malawi and Bahrain, respectively. Check Malawi vs Bahrain comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.5 months in Blantyre compared to 1.6 months in Manama. Blantyre ranked 1st best city to live in Malawi vs Manama ranked 1st in Bahrain, while ranked 8786th and 1191st among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Blantyre vs Manama infographic

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Prices in Blantyre vs Manama

Prices for goods and services in Blantyre and Manama are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Blantyre	Manama
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$3.97	$6.59
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$12.6	$52.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.69	$7.37
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1	$8.04
☕ Cappuccino	$2.02	$5.35
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.82	$0.79
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$176	$740
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$81.2	$492
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$322	$1322
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$145	$892
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$21.9	$77.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$33.4	$118
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$25.2	$40.7
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.77%	8.61%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10537	$2794
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$393	$2737
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.85	$0.81
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$14.9	$31.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$20.1	$33.1
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.2	$0.55
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.81	$1.65
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.94	$1.13
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.41	$2.6
🥚 Eggs, x12	$1.37	$2.56
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.92	$6.67
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.58	$7.01
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$6.17	$9.31
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.77	$2.49
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.34	$2.14
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.46	$1.7
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.87	$1.29
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.98	$0.98
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.29
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.53
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$0.72	$2.77
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.49	$20
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.92	$2.97
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.88	$6.01
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$1.45	$5.5
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$1.28	$5.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.73	$2.83
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.69	$3.41
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$41.7	$71
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$1.44	$10.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$16.9	$39.7
💇 Haircut, simple	$2.96	$4.82
👖 Brand Jeans	$34	$48.2
👟 Brand Sneakers	$59.1	$86.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$357	$304
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$589	$8943

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Blantyre

Distance	City	Cost of living
57 km or 35 mi	Zomba	$458
60 km or 37 mi	Mulanje	$461
112 km or 70 mi	Ntcheu	$493
149 km or 92 mi	Mangochi	$496
157 km or 98 mi	Tete	$820
191 km or 119 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
240 km or 149 mi	Lilongwe	$592
307 km or 191 mi	Quelimane	$692
405 km or 252 mi	Chimoio	$916
432 km or 269 mi	Mutare	$755
450 km or 280 mi	Beira	$996
454 km or 282 mi	Marondera	$779
458 km or 285 mi	Mzimba	$565
463 km or 287 mi	Nampula	$935
478 km or 297 mi	Harare	$1021
487 km or 303 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
493 km or 307 mi	Mzuzu	$527
541 km or 336 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
611 km or 380 mi	Kadoma	$761
626 km or 389 mi	Nacala	$1168
637 km or 396 mi	Kwekwe	$716
650 km or 404 mi	Masvingo	$873
674 km or 419 mi	Pemba	$1511
685 km or 425 mi	Gweru	$587
708 km or 440 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
721 km or 448 mi	Lusaka	$655
746 km or 463 mi	Kasama	$888
754 km or 469 mi	Ndola	$577
784 km or 487 mi	Mbeya	$495
803 km or 499 mi	Kitwe	$1062
811 km or 504 mi	Mufulira	$1278
837 km or 520 mi	Mansa	$912
837 km or 520 mi	Bulawayo	$658
849 km or 528 mi	Chingola	$1069
865 km or 537 mi	Choma	$687
935 km or 581 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
991 km or 616 mi	Francistown	$587
999 km or 621 mi	Livingstone	$653
1000 km or 621 mi	Moroni	$1207
1038 km or 645 mi	Morogoro	$421

Cities near Manama

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.9 km or 3.7 mi	Isa Town	$1230
10 km or 6.2 mi	Riffa	$1201
44 km or 27 mi	Dhahran	$908
54 km or 33 mi	Dammam	$1008
98 km or 61 mi	Qatif	$873
110 km or 68 mi	Al Khor	$1770
126 km or 78 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$806
126 km or 78 mi	Jubail	$930
139 km or 87 mi	Doha	$1849
307 km or 191 mi	Bushehr	$453
345 km or 214 mi	Borazjan	$477
376 km or 233 mi	Al Wafrah	$1283
388 km or 241 mi	Jahrom	$530
392 km or 244 mi	Kazerun	$503
421 km or 262 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1730
424 km or 263 mi	Shiraz	$553
426 km or 265 mi	Riyadh	$1627
427 km or 265 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1942
428 km or 266 mi	Fasa	$529
435 km or 270 mi	Kuwait City	$1454
461 km or 287 mi	Marvdasht	$530
467 km or 290 mi	Al-Faw	$730
485 km or 301 mi	Dubai	$2514
488 km or 303 mi	Behbahan	$483
491 km or 305 mi	Sharjah	$1419
498 km or 309 mi	Umm Qasr	$726
498 km or 310 mi	Ajman	$2521
501 km or 312 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$521
503 km or 312 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1183
504 km or 313 mi	Yasuj	$463
510 km or 317 mi	Abadan	$549
524 km or 326 mi	Khorramshahr	$542
543 km or 337 mi	Az Zubayr	$719
547 km or 340 mi	Basra	$889
555 km or 345 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1398
565 km or 351 mi	Al Ain	$1449
573 km or 356 mi	Bandar Abbas	$632
589 km or 366 mi	Fujairah	$1228
597 km or 371 mi	Ahvaz	$571
617 km or 383 mi	Sirjan	$534