Chisinau vs Lilongwe - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Chisinau	Lilongwe
🚶 Cost of living one person	$892	$587
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2204	$1571
🏠 One person rent	$505	$251
🏘️ Family rent	$980	$555
🍽️ Food expenses	$270	$237
🚐 Transport expenses	$36	$51.8
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$625	$275
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Moderate
✈️ Airport proximity	10 km	22 km
🎓 Higher education	51	13
😀 Quality of life	57	20
🏙️ Population	639K	989K

The cost of living in Chisinau is 52% more expensive than in Lilongwe. Cities ranked 6080th and 7807th ($892 vs $587) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 2nd and 1st in Moldova and Malawi, respectively. Check Moldova vs Malawi comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 0.7 months in Chisinau compared to 0.5 months in Lilongwe. Chisinau ranked 1st best city to live in Moldova vs Lilongwe ranked 4th in Malawi, while ranked 5665th and 8847th among best cities to live in the world.

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the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Chisinau vs Lilongwe infographic

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Prices in Chisinau vs Lilongwe

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

	Chisinau	Lilongwe
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.05	$4.27
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.2	$24.2
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$6.98	$8.14
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.61	$1.37
☕ Cappuccino	$1.76	$2.32
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.92	$0.93
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$520	$373
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$361	$114
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1075	$362
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$744	$474
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$102	$34.6
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$159	$53.6
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$9.95	$50.1
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	9.4%	12.4%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1974	$10555
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1449	$588
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.32	$0.91
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$12.5	$11.7
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$3.9	$5.67
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.26	$1.35
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.13	$0.95
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.51	$0.95
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.35	$1.29
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.4	$2.29
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$9.64	$13.2
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.97	$3.29
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.07	$4
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.76	$2.36
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.62	$1
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.55	$1.49
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.85	$1.32
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.69	$1.26
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$0.6	$1.24
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.53	$0.42
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.62	$1.15
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.2	$12.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.13	$0.91
🚬 Cigarette pack	$2.96	$1.57
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$5.48	$2.11
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.74	$4.11
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.25	$0.75
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.87	$0.68
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$36.9	$28.8
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$7.04	$4.17
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$18	$17
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.91	$3.6
👖 Brand Jeans	$61.7	$23.1
👟 Brand Sneakers	$94.3	$49.4
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$356	$349
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$6466	$2351

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Chisinau

Distance	City	Cost of living
37 km or 23 mi	Dubasari	$780
42 km or 26 mi	Orhei	$829
51 km or 32 mi	Bender	$502
61 km or 38 mi	Tiraspol	$517
80 km or 50 mi	Comrat	$782
83 km or 52 mi	Ungheni	$1062
95 km or 59 mi	Vaslui	$825
98 km or 61 mi	Iasi	$840
109 km or 68 mi	Balti	$876
126 km or 79 mi	Barlad	$725
132 km or 82 mi	Cahul	$812
135 km or 84 mi	Soroca	$863
146 km or 91 mi	Roman	$637
154 km or 96 mi	Odesa	$555
155 km or 96 mi	Bacau	$650
184 km or 115 mi	Botosani	$727
187 km or 116 mi	Galati	$786
189 km or 117 mi	Piatra Neamt	$676
194 km or 121 mi	Focsani	$752
202 km or 125 mi	Tulcea	$837
205 km or 127 mi	Braila	$741
209 km or 130 mi	Suceava	$709
238 km or 148 mi	Mykolaiv	$400
250 km or 155 mi	Vinnytsia	$562
259 km or 161 mi	Buzau	$729
261 km or 162 mi	Chernivtsi	$533
267 km or 166 mi	Sfantu Gheorghe	$680
288 km or 179 mi	Kherson	$433
292 km or 181 mi	Brasov	$938
295 km or 183 mi	Slobozia	$722
302 km or 187 mi	Khmelnytskyi	$483
305 km or 189 mi	Kropyvnytskyi	$513
307 km or 191 mi	Mamaia	$929
315 km or 196 mi	Constanta	$1002
317 km or 197 mi	Ploiesti	$796
324 km or 201 mi	Bila Tserkva	$454
331 km or 206 mi	Targu Mures	$758
332 km or 206 mi	Bistrita	$663
334 km or 207 mi	Calarasi	$696
348 km or 216 mi	Voluntari	$867

Cities near Lilongwe

Distance	City	Cost of living
123 km or 76 mi	Monkey Bay	$518
134 km or 83 mi	Ntcheu	$492
169 km or 105 mi	Mangochi	$493
228 km or 142 mi	Zomba	$457
233 km or 145 mi	Mzimba	$566
240 km or 149 mi	Blantyre	$507
243 km or 151 mi	Tete	$825
283 km or 176 mi	Mzuzu	$525
293 km or 182 mi	Mulanje	$461
506 km or 314 mi	Kasama	$748
518 km or 322 mi	Harare	$992
524 km or 326 mi	Marondera	$794
533 km or 331 mi	Chitungwiza	$873
536 km or 333 mi	Chinhoyi	$646
545 km or 339 mi	Quelimane	$675
550 km or 342 mi	Kapiri Mposhi	$687
566 km or 352 mi	Mbeya	$461
567 km or 353 mi	Mutare	$752
568 km or 353 mi	Ndola	$541
572 km or 355 mi	Chimoio	$947
603 km or 375 mi	Nampula	$872
613 km or 381 mi	Lusaka	$738
616 km or 383 mi	Mansa	$776
616 km or 383 mi	Kitwe	$917
618 km or 384 mi	Mufulira	$1018
637 km or 396 mi	Kadoma	$723
660 km or 410 mi	Chingola	$875
660 km or 410 mi	Beira	$1003
682 km or 424 mi	Kwekwe	$730
732 km or 455 mi	Lubumbashi	$1050
740 km or 460 mi	Pemba	$1506
741 km or 460 mi	Gweru	$597
744 km or 462 mi	Nacala	$1150
746 km or 464 mi	Masvingo	$854
795 km or 494 mi	Choma	$700
835 km or 519 mi	Likasi	$961
883 km or 549 mi	Bulawayo	$766
886 km or 551 mi	Dodoma	$502
902 km or 560 mi	Morogoro	$486
949 km or 590 mi	Livingstone	$688