Top 10 African cities with the most expensive groceries mid-2024

Business Insider Africa presents the top 10 African cities with the most expensive groceries.
This list is courtesy of Numbeo.
Lagos ranks number 1 on the list.

As grocery costs in a region increase, the overall cost of living is at risk of being heavily impacted, especially for low-income households that spend a significant amount of their income on food.

In many African cities, informal markets constitute an important element of the food delivery system. While this is good for the locals it could also put a lot of pressure on these informal markets.

Furthermore, in cities where incomes do not keep pace with inflation, high-cost consumables worsen food insecurity.

Many families may miss meals or go for less nutritional but less expensive food alternatives, posing a public health risk.

While some regions don’t have to deal with these issues, given their already high purchasing power, and or a manageable food inflation level, there is no denying the fact that some regions in relation to their economy have pricey groceries.

Some of these cities boast a very high grocery index, as seen in Numbeo.

The Numbeo grocery index estimates grocery prices in a city relative to New York City. Numbeo calculates each city's index using item weights from the "Markets" section.

With that said, here are the African cities with the most pricey groceries.

Top 10 African cities with the most expensive groceries mid-2024

Rank	City	Country	Grocery index
1.	Lagos	Nigeria	40.2
2.	Algiers	Algeria	39.1
3.	Accra	Ghana	36.4
4.	Harare	Zimbabwe	36.2
5.	Tunis	Tunisia	35.5
6.	Casablanca	Morocco	34.5
7.	Nairobi	Kenya	34.4
8.	Rabat	Morocco	34.3
9.	Port Elizabeth	South Africa	34.3
10.	Cape Town	South Africa	33.9