List Of African Cities With Highest Cost Of Living Index Scores

To be clear, cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time are often operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living in different geographic areas.

Custom cost of living comparison includes housing, food, utilities, transportation, healthcare costs, others.

According to Investopedia: “The cost of living is the amount of money needed to cover basic expenses such as housing, food, taxes, and healthcare in a certain place and time period. The cost of living is often used to compare how expensive it is to live in one city versus another. The cost of living is tied to wages. If expenses are higher in a city, such as New York, for example, salary levels must be higher so that people can afford to live in that city.”

Where do you live right now? Have you ever wondered how much it would cost you to live comfortably in another city different from where you stay currently?

This cost of living index could help you with the answer just in case you are pondering any African city. Interestingly, the index also compared the expected average costs of basic necessities such as food, clothing, entertainment and healthcare, etc., across cities.

Using data obtained from Statista, Prime Business Africa hereby presents a list of 15 African cities with the highest cost of living index scores.

1. Addis Ababa: The Ethiopian capital city has the highest cost of living index score in Africa at 58.92. Apparently, the prices of consumer goods are quite high in this Horn of Africa city,    compared to other cities across the continent.
2. Abidjan: The Ivorian capital city has a cost of living index score of 55.73, making it the second highest in Africa.
3. Harare: This Zimbabwean city has a cost of living index score of 52.33 as of 2021.
4. Johannesburg: This is the first South African city on the list. Joburg, as it is fondly called by its residents, has a cost of living index score of 46.
5. Pretoria: This city, which serves as the seat of South Africa’s executive branch of government, is equally quite costly to live in. The cost of living index score here is 44.7.
6. Gaborone: The capital city of Botswana has a cost of living index of 42.84.
7. Cape Town: This is the third South African city on the list and it has a cost of living index of 42.24.
8. Accra: This is the second West African city that made it to the list, besides Abidjan. The Ghanaian capital city has a score of 42.18.
9. Marrakesh: This is one of Africa’s most famous cities, attracting tourists in the thousands. It is also a major economic hub in Morocco. Therefore, it is not surprising to see it on this list, with a          cost of living index score of 41.73.
10. Windhoek: Namibia’s capital and largest city has a cost of living index score of 41.08.
11. Tangier: This is the second Moroccan city on the list and it has an index score of 40.18.
12. Durban: This is the last one of the four South African cities on this list. Durban has a cost of living index score of 39.86.
13. Casablanca: This is the second largest city in Morocco and it has a cost of living index score of 39.81,
14. Nairobi: Kenya’s capital city has a cost of living index score of 38.51.
15. Rabat: Finally, Morocco’s capital city has a cost of living index score of 37.95.

You can see that eight cities from two African countries dominated the list. To be specific, there are four South African cities and four Moroccan cities on the list.

Shocking! Nigeria’s mega city and commercial nerve centre, Lagos, did not make the list. Also, there are only two West African cities on the list.

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