AN X user, @jeffphilips1, has claimed that Nigeria is the cheapest country to live in Africa.
He posted the claim with a caption thus:
“Yet the cheapest country to live in Africa still remains Nigeria. Google to fact-check it, it’s there.”
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The post has generated more than 700,000 views, with over 500 reposts and more than 2,000 likes as of March 4, 2025.
CLAIM
Nigeria is the cheapest country to live in Africa.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE., as the most recent data show that Libya is the cheapest country to live in Africa.
Cost of living, the financial requirement to sustain a basic standard of living like food, housing, healthcare, and transportation etc, is the yardstick for determining how cheap or costly a country is to live in.
According to Investopedia, Cost of living data includes the expenses incurred for food, shelter, transportation, energy, clothing, education, healthcare, childcare, and entertainment. It noted that a cost of living index tracks how much basic expenses for these categories rise over time and in different regions.
“It can demonstrate how need-based expenses vary from one area to another. The costs of consumer goods and services vary between urban and suburban residential areas,” it stated.
In Africa, it’s a key factor for individuals and businesses when choosing where to settle, analysts say.
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The Cost of Living Index (CLI) is the metric for measuring the relative expense of living in different countries by analyzing the prices of essential goods and services, excluding rent.
A lower CLI indicates a more affordable cost of living, meaning people can meet their basic needs with less money, while a higher CLI suggests higher expenses and financial strain. The index is often used to compare economic conditions across countries or cities and assess affordability trends over time. When rent is included, a separate index—such as the Cost of Living Plus Rent Index—provides a more comprehensive picture of living expenses.
Numbeo, a crowd-sourced global database, provides data on the cost of living, housing, healthcare, crime, pollution, traffic, and other economic indicators across cities and countries. It also allows users to compare living expenses worldwide.
It is not unlikely that the X user relied on the data supplied by the platform in January 2024, which ranked Nigeria as the country with the lowest Cost of Living Index (19.0). The data was also reported by Business Day. This is perhaps because it is the top result when such a query is searched on Google.com.
However, findings by The FactCheckHub show that Nigeria has lost that position since mid-2024 and dropped to the 12th position after its CLI increased to 31.4.
According to the 2025 data, Libya is the country with the lowest cost of Living in Africa with a CLI of 18.6, followed by Egypt (19.0) and Madagascar (20.7) while Nigeria is 7th with a CLI of 26.4.
When the cost of house rent is factored in, Libya maintains its first position in Africa with a CLI of 12.1 while Nigeria dips further to the 18th position with a CLI of 24.4.
Further checks affirm that Nigeria is not the cheapest country with the lowest cost of living as another recent 2025 data published by WorldData.info puts the country in the 10th position in Africa.
In its “Comparison of worldwide cost of living” report, Egypt ranks 1st in Africa with a CLI of 18.2, followed by Zimbabwe, Libya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Kenya and Lesotho. The report says it based the calculated cost of living index on the OECD, the Worldbank, the IMF and Eurostat figures.
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This may not be unconnected to the economic hardships in the country fuelled by tough policies by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Nigerian government, such as the removal of fuel and electricity subsidies and the floating of the naira, which have triggered inflation and worsened the nation’s cost of living.
The removal of subsidies led to soaring fuel prices, which increased transportation costs and, in turn, drove up the prices of goods and services. Meanwhile, the floating of the naira caused a sharp depreciation of the currency, making imports more expensive and further fueling inflation. As a result, the purchasing power of Nigerians has significantly declined, making necessities such as food, housing, healthcare, and education more difficult to afford.
THE VERDICT
The claim that Nigeria is the cheapest country to live in Africa is FALSE, recent data show that Libya is the cheapest country to live in Africa, followed by Egypt, Madagascar, Algeria, Tunisia and Uganda while Nigeria takes 7th position.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
