Cost of Living inSabha, Libya
Image credit: Biswarup Ganguly
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Libya: $12,584/capita.
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 82% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Using the country-level NYC comparison for now. We do not have a defensible city-level aggregate cost index for this city yet.
Income Category
Happiness
5.9 / 10
#65 globally
GDP per Capita
City Population
Child Education
Public-schooling rules and international-school pricing are not sourced for Libya yet. Quality, expat-access, instruction language, and tuition will appear here once verified.
Childcare & Domestic Help
Nanny, housekeeper, and driver pricing is not yet sourced for Sabha. We publish this section only when we can tie it to local job-board, agency, or country fallback evidence.
Getting Around
Neighborhood mobility profiles are rolling out city by city.Sabha is still missing a verified walkability, transit, airport, and rideshare profile.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Libya.
Method: country metrics come from public system indicators, facility coverage reflects mapped providers we can inventory, direct pricing only reflects observed self-pay pages, and relative care cost can fall back to broad cost-of-living healthcare indices. Sparse pricing does not imply sparse healthcare availability.
Healthcare system
GoodSolid hospital-bed capacity support this rating.
Public care
GoodStrong public funding and relatively low patient cost-sharing support this rating.
Private care
LimitedThe tracked private-style network still looks thin and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
UHC coverage
71/100
2023
Physicians
2.04/1k
2017
Hospital beds
3.50/1k
2022
Out of pocket
19%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
71.1 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
59/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
5.2/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedPrice transparency is still sparse weigh on this rating.
Pricing transparency
LimitedPublished self-pay prices are scarce and few facilities expose web pages we can verify weigh on this rating.
Facility coverage
Self-pay pricing visibility
No verified self-pay prices are published for the tracked facilities in Libya yet.
This usually reflects low online price transparency rather than a lack of healthcare providers.
Notable facilities
System metrics: World Bank WDI · Updated 2026-06-01
Safety & Governance
Street Safety
Source: Numbeo where a city row is matched; otherwise World Bank WGI and country-level safety context.
Political Stability
World Bank WGI scale: -2.5 to +2.5.
Wages by Sector
| Sector | Median |
|---|---|
| Administrative & Support Services | — |
| Agriculture & Farming | — |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Professional & Scientific Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Real Estate | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
| Utilities | — |
2024 annual wages in Sabha, Libya · Source: GDP-derived estimate (national)
Price Comparison vs. US
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
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Quick comparison FAQ
Structured from the deltas already shown on this page — no invented facts, no extra data sources.
How far does your money go in Sabha compared with the US?
Your money goes about 3.0x further in Sabha than in the US, based on the current PPP estimate. We are using the country-level cost index for Libya here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
Is Sabha cheaper or more expensive overall than New York City?
Sabha is cheaper overall than New York City — overall living costs are about 82% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City) for Sabha. We are using the country-level cost index for Libya here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How does rent in Sabha compare with New York City?
Rent in Sabha is about 95% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City). We are using the country-level cost index for Libya here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
How expensive are groceries and restaurants in Sabha?
Groceries in Sabha are about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), and restaurant prices are about 88% cheaper than the same benchmark. We are using the country-level cost index for Libya here because a defensible city-level aggregate index is not available yet.
About Sabha
Sabha is the largest city in southern Libya, set in the Fezzan region at an oasis about seven hundred and fifty kilometers south of Tripoli on the trans-Saharan trade corridor toward Niger and Chad. Its population of around 149,300 anchors regional administration, trade with the wider Sahel, and historically the Libyan oil and gas sector's southern logistics base. The city sits at around four hundred meters elevation in a fully desert climate, with very hot summers, cool winter nights, and minimal precipitation. Arabic is the working language alongside Tuareg and Tebu languages in surrounding communities. For relocators, Sabha's practical conditions are dominated by Libya's post-2011 security and governance fragmentation, intermittent service availability, and heavy restrictions on foreign movement, and there is effectively no functional expatriate infrastructure.
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