Cost of Living in Madagascar
Image credit: David Herzog
Purchasing Power vs. United States
Based on GDP per capita (PPP). Madagascar: $1,657/capita.
Cities in Madagascar
Income Category
Happiness
4.2 / 10
#120 globally
GDP per Capita
Population
How Far Your Money Goes
Prices are 78% lower than the global benchmark (New York City = 100).
Child Education
Public-schooling rules are not sourced for Madagascar yet. Country-level enrollment, instruction-language, and homeschool notes will appear here once verified.
Childcare & Domestic Help
Nanny, housekeeper, and driver pricing is not yet sourced for Madagascar. We publish this section only when we can tie it to verified local samples or a clearly marked country fallback.
Healthcare
System strength, outcome signals, facility coverage, and self-pay visibility in Madagascar.
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
LimitedCoverage looks thinner, doctor staffing is lighter, and hospital capacity looks tighter weigh on this rating.
Public care
LimitedA visible public hospital footprint help, but public coverage looks thinner and public funding looks lighter.
Private care
MixedA large tracked hospital and clinic network help, but the private footprint is not very visible yet and self-pay pricing transparency is still sparse.
UHC coverage
33/100
2023
Physicians
0.17/1k
2022
Hospital beds
0.32/1k
2014
Out of pocket
27%
2023
Outcome signals
Life expectancy
63.8 yrs
2024
Maternal mortality
445/100k
2023
Neonatal mortality
23.1/1k
2024
International patient readiness
LimitedThere is visible specialty depth help, but the private footprint is still thin and price transparency is still sparse.
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 Madagascar 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 | — |
| Construction | — |
| Education | — |
| Finance & Insurance | — |
| Healthcare & Social Work | — |
| Hospitality & Food Service | — |
| Information & Technology | — |
| Manufacturing | — |
| Mining & Quarrying | — |
| Other Services | — |
| Public Administration & Defence | — |
| Retail & Wholesale Trade | — |
| Transport & Logistics | — |
2015 annual wages in Madagascar · Source: ILO ILOSTAT
Visa Information (US passport)
Short-stay entry
US passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival.
About Madagascar
Madagascar is a low-income Sub-Saharan African country where relocators are mainly trading very low day-to-day costs for weaker infrastructure and a narrower safety net. Antananarivo is the practical base for most foreigners because basic healthcare and improving internet are concentrated in the capital, while specialized care can be limited or unavailable and services thin out quickly elsewhere. An expat lifestyle is documented around $800-1,200 per month, so the country sits at the extremely low-cost end of the region, especially outside Antananarivo. French and Malagasy are the official languages, and limited English makes daily administration harder without some French. The 90-day tourist visa on arrival is useful for scouting, but petty theft, political instability risk, slow 5-10 Mbps internet, and the November-March cyclone season should be planned around.
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Common questions about Madagascar
Sourced from SortaRich's public-data ranking engine — every figure links to its institutional source.
Is Madagascar a good country to live in?
Madagascar is a lower-rated country to live in per the World Happiness Report (4.2 of 10, ranking #120 globally). Whether it's right for you depends on your priorities — use SortaRich's free quiz to see how Madagascar ranks for your specific income, family, and visa profile.
Sources: World Happiness Report, SortaRich Methodology
How much does it cost to live in Madagascar?
The cost of living in Madagascar is about 77% cheaper than the global benchmark (New York City), with an overall cost-of-living index of 23. SortaRich personalizes these numbers to your home city's purchasing power so the comparison is real, not nominal.
Sources: SortaRich Cost of Living, World Bank ICP 2021
How far does $1 go in Madagascar?
$1 goes about 3.2x further in Madagascar than in the baseline market — your home-country income stretches that much more (current PPP ratio: 3.21). The figure adjusts every year as exchange rates and local prices shift. SortaRich uses World Bank ICP 2021 as the anchor and Penn World Tables 11.0 for cross-validation.
Sources: World Bank ICP 2021, Penn World Tables 11.0
What visa do I need to move to Madagascar?
To move to Madagascar you have these visa options: Tourist entry: visa_on_arrival. Visa rules change frequently — confirm the current terms with the official immigration authority before booking flights.
Source: SortaRich Visa Database
What are the best cities to live in Madagascar?
The best cities to live in Madagascar are Antananarivo — those are the most-searched options among the 1 cities profiled in the SortaRich database. Each city page includes a personalized PPP comparison versus your home city plus subnational price data where available.
Source: SortaRich City Index