Lagos Emerges Among Top 10 Cities With Highest Cost of Living in Africa

Lagos Emerges Among Top 10 Cities With Highest Cost of Living in Africa

  • Many African towns' growing cost of living is a result of economic downturns caused by macroeconomic factors
  • Some of these factors are depreciating currencies, inflation, elimination of subsidies for necessities like fuel, and higher taxes
  • Based on a recent report, Lagos emerged on the list of the top 10 countries with the highest living cost in Africa

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

The rising cost of living in many African cities is a result of economic downturns brought on by depreciating currencies, inflation, elimination of subsidies for necessities like fuel, and higher taxes. As a result, prices for necessities like food and utilities have increased.

Top 10 cities with highest cost of living in Africa
Lagos ranks fouth of the cost of living index. Photo Credit: Monkeybusinessimages
Source: Getty Images

The cost of living in several African cities at midyear has been made public by Numbeo, one of the most prominent data and research platforms worldwide, through a new index.

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Even if there has been noticeable economic progress in several African cities, income disparity is still a problem. A large section of the population finds it impossible to keep up with the rising cost of living as the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen.

With the biggest economy in Africa, South Africa is confronted with dire economic difficulties. Consequently, numerous South African cities are at the top of the continent's list of cities with the highest cost of living. The top three cities are Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Pretoria.

Lagos, the commercial centre of Nigeria, comes in after the top three cities in South Africa.

The cost of living plus rent index, restaurant, grocery, rent, and local purchasing power are only a few of the elements that are used in the index.

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RankCityCost of living index
1Johannesburg, South Africa38.4
2Pretoria, South Africa35.3
3Cape Town, South Africa35.2
4Lagos, Nigeria35.1
5Durban, South Africa32.9
6Casablanca, Morocco32.8
7Accra, Ghana32.1
8Nairobi, Kenya31.7
9Algiers, Algeria29.8
10Tunis, Tunisia29.8

Lagos state intervenes to ease Nigeria cost of living crisis

Legit.ng the governor of Nigeria's Lagos state on Thursday unveiled a series of measures aimed at easing the soaring cost of living after protests broke out.

Nigeria is suffering an economic crisis with soaring inflation, leaving many people struggling to afford food.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, whose state includes the 20 million people of the city of Lagos, listed measures including a three-day working week for civil servants, a 25-percent reduction of public transport prices and the opening to price competition of 42 Sunday markets.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Zainab Iwayemi avatar

Zainab Iwayemi (Business Editor) Zainab Iwayemi is a business journalist with over 5 years experience reporting activities in the stock market, tech, insurance, banking, and oil and gas sectors. She holds a Bachelor of Science (B.sc) degree in Sociology from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State. Before Legit.ng, she worked as a financial analyst at Nairametrics where she was rewarded for outstanding performance. She can be reached via zainab.iwayemi@corp.legit.ng