Lilongwe vs Manama - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Lilongwe	Manama
🚶 Cost of living one person	$587	$1280
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$1571	$3260
🏠 One person rent	$251	$675
🏘️ Family rent	$555	$1427
🍽️ Food expenses	$237	$394
🚐 Transport expenses	$51.8	$110
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$275	$2298
😷 Air quality	Moderate	Bad
✈️ Airport proximity	22 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	13	46
😀 Quality of life	20	74
🏙️ Population	989K	298K

The cost of living in Lilongwe is 54% less expensive than in Manama. Cities ranked 7807th and 4263rd ($587 vs $1280) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 1st 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 Lilongwe compared to 1.8 months in Manama. Lilongwe ranked 4th best city to live in Malawi vs Manama ranked 1st in Bahrain, while ranked 8847th and 1311th among best cities to live in the world.

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Cost of living in Lilongwe vs Manama infographic

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Prices in Lilongwe vs Manama

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

	Lilongwe	Manama
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$4.27	$6.92
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$24.2	$57
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$8.14	$7.22
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.37	$9.31
☕ Cappuccino	$2.32	$5.26
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$0.93	$0.85
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$373	$715
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$114	$512
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$362	$1691
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$474	$1155
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$34.6	$80.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$53.6	$123
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$50.1	$41.8
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	12.4%	8.7%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$10555	$2589
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$588	$2299
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$0.91	$0.86
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$11.7	$34.8
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$5.67	$36.6
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.35	$0.55
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.95	$1.82
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$0.95	$1.45
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.29	$2.39
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.29	$2.68
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$13.2	$9.57
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.29	$7.39
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4	$11.6
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.36	$2.39
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1	$2.07
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.49	$1.73
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.32	$1.22
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.26	$0.83
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.24	$0.95
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.42	$0.67
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.15	$2.81
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$12.1	$20.1
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$0.91	$3.04
🚬 Cigarette pack	$1.57	$6.44
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$2.11	$5.44
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$4.11	$5.98
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$0.75	$2.8
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$0.68	$3.36
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$28.8	$78.5
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$4.17	$10.6
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$17	$39.8
💇 Haircut, simple	$3.6	$4.78
👖 Brand Jeans	$23.1	$43.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$49.4	$90
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$349	$377
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$2351	$9896

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

$349

$907

$6.64K

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

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

Cities near Manama

Distance	City	Cost of living
5.9 km or 3.7 mi	Isa Town	$1243
10 km or 6.2 mi	Riffa	$1223
44 km or 27 mi	Dhahran	$1068
54 km or 33 mi	Dammam	$1056
98 km or 61 mi	Qatif	$897
110 km or 68 mi	Al Khor	$1709
126 km or 78 mi	Al-Mubarraz	$804
126 km or 78 mi	Jubail	$901
139 km or 87 mi	Doha	$1779
307 km or 191 mi	Bushehr	$551
345 km or 214 mi	Borazjan	$546
376 km or 233 mi	Al Wafrah	$1210
388 km or 241 mi	Jahrom	$547
392 km or 244 mi	Kazerun	$557
421 km or 262 mi	Madinat Zayed	$1721
424 km or 263 mi	Shiraz	$589
426 km or 265 mi	Riyadh	$1637
427 km or 265 mi	Abu Dhabi	$1828
428 km or 266 mi	Fasa	$548
435 km or 270 mi	Kuwait City	$1393
461 km or 287 mi	Marvdasht	$563
467 km or 290 mi	Al-Faw	$736
485 km or 301 mi	Dubai	$2379
488 km or 303 mi	Behbahan	$536
491 km or 305 mi	Sharjah	$1494
498 km or 309 mi	Umm Qasr	$740
498 km or 310 mi	Ajman	$2240
501 km or 312 mi	Bandar-e Mahshahr	$548
503 km or 312 mi	Umm al-Quwain	$1196
504 km or 313 mi	Yasuj	$529
510 km or 317 mi	Abadan	$547
524 km or 326 mi	Khorramshahr	$544
543 km or 337 mi	Az Zubayr	$723
547 km or 340 mi	Basra	$904
555 km or 345 mi	Ras al-Khaimah	$1540
565 km or 351 mi	Al Ain	$1844
573 km or 356 mi	Bandar Abbas	$634
589 km or 366 mi	Fujairah	$1239
597 km or 371 mi	Ahvaz	$597
617 km or 383 mi	Sirjan	$514