Bucharest vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Bucharest	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1116	$592
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2864	$1419
🏠 One person rent	$525	$250
🏘️ Family rent	$907	$390
🍽️ Food expenses	$389	$241
🚐 Transport expenses	$80	$51.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1391	$105
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	12 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	77	12
😀 Quality of life	81	25
🏙️ Population	1.72M	989K

The cost of living in Bucharest is 89% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 4913th and 7884th ($1116 vs $592) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Romania and Malawi, respectively. Check Romania vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.2 months in Bucharest compared to 0.2 months in Lilongwe. Bucharest ranked 1st best city to live in Romania vs Lilongwe ranked 7th in Malawi, while ranked 646th and 8966th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Bucharest vs Lilongwe infographic

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<img src="https://livingcost.org/assets/photo/cost/bucharest/lilongwe.jpg" alt="Cost of living in Bucharest vs Lilongwe infographic" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;"><p>Source: <a href="https://livingcost.org/cost/bucharest/lilongwe" target="_blank">Bucharest vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison</a></p>

Prices in Bucharest vs Lilongwe

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

	Bucharest	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$11.7	$4.27
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$54.8	$24.6
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.27	$8.09
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$3.41	$1.55
☕ Cappuccino	$3.45	$2.34
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$2.33	$1.43
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$576	$374
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$376	$114
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1044	$603
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$667	$207
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$98.4	$34.2
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$153	$53.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$10.6	$50.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	7.28%	12.87%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$3651	$10587
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$2102	$593
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.15	$0.92
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$22.3	$11.6
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$6.02	$5.7
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.68	$1.34
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.73	$1.06
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.16	$1.07
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.43	$1.42
🥚 Eggs, x12	$3.41	$2.27
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.89	$13.4
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.34	$3.25
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.4	$4.01
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$2.38
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.74	$1.24
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.8	$1.5
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.68	$1.34
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$1.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.03	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.59	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.38	$1.13
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$8.07	$12
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.21	$0.92
🚬 Cigarette pack	$6.39	$1.57
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.09	$2.12
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$5.47	$4.05
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.81	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$3.18	$0.66
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$47.8	$29.1
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$8.84	$4.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$61.8	$17
💇 Haircut, simple	$12.1	$3.59
👖 Brand Jeans	$79.4	$23
👟 Brand Sneakers	$92.7	$49.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$664	$353
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$14350	$2356

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Bucharest

Distance	City	Cost of living
13 km or 8.3 mi	Voluntari	$970
56 km or 35 mi	Giurgiu	$910
60 km or 37 mi	Ploiesti	$885
62 km or 39 mi	Ruse	$777
77 km or 48 mi	Targoviste	$802
77 km or 48 mi	Alexandria	$692
102 km or 63 mi	Buzau	$857
102 km or 63 mi	Calarasi	$775
103 km or 64 mi	Slobozia	$762
108 km or 67 mi	Pitesti	$873
137 km or 85 mi	Slatina	$675
143 km or 89 mi	Shumen	$681
144 km or 90 mi	Brasov	$1056
151 km or 94 mi	Veliko Tarnovo	$752
156 km or 97 mi	Ramnicu Valcea	$835
161 km or 100 mi	Pleven	$667
164 km or 102 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$712
168 km or 104 mi	Dobrich	$789
168 km or 105 mi	Focsani	$898
177 km or 110 mi	Braila	$871
180 km or 112 mi	Craiova	$909
181 km or 112 mi	Gabrovo	$643
192 km or 119 mi	Galati	$895
192 km or 119 mi	Sliven	$591
198 km or 123 mi	Varna	$1039
203 km or 126 mi	Mamaia	$1024
205 km or 127 mi	Constanta	$1103
216 km or 134 mi	Yambol	$618
217 km or 135 mi	Sibiu	$805
223 km or 138 mi	Stara Zagora	$703
232 km or 144 mi	Tulcea	$854
233 km or 145 mi	Targu Jiu	$832
236 km or 146 mi	Cahul	$926
237 km or 147 mi	Barlad	$797
238 km or 148 mi	Medias	$706
239 km or 148 mi	Burgas	$848
243 km or 151 mi	Vratsa	$766
251 km or 156 mi	Bacau	$724
260 km or 161 mi	Vidin	$668
267 km or 166 mi	Targu Mures	$749

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$519
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$493
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$496
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$458
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$565
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$506
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$820
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$527
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$888
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$1021
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$779
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$751
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$650
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$692
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$748
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$495
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$755
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$577
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$916
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$935
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$655
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$912
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$1062
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1278
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$761
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$1069
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$996
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$716
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1124
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1511
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$587
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1168
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$873
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$687
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$1032
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$658
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$526
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$421
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$653