Prices in South Africa 🇿🇦
What 7 everyday items cost in South Africa, shown in US dollars, in ZAR, and as roughly how long someone earning the average local wage works to buy one.
South Africa has low prices in dollar terms but the widest gap in the game between price and affordability: measured in work time at the average wage, its groceries cost far more than the dollar figures suggest. Fuel is regulated and adjusted monthly by the government.
What things cost
| Item | USD | Local | Work time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Mac | $3.36 | 54.9 ZAR | 45 min |
| Coca-Cola (330ml can) | $0.81 | 15 ZAR | 11 min |
| Cappuccino | $2.31 | 38.24 ZAR | 31 min |
| Milk (1 litre) | $1.20 | 19.86 ZAR | 16 min |
| Eggs (dozen) | $2.50 | 41.38 ZAR | 33 min |
| Apples (1 kg) | $1.80 | 29.79 ZAR | 24 min |
| Gasoline (1 litre) | $1.42 | 23.5 ZAR | 19 min |
Local-currency figures are converted from US dollars at recent exchange rates, except the Big Mac, which is published in local currency by The Economist and converted the other way. Work time divides the dollar price by an estimated average hourly wage — the roughest number on this page. See methodology.
How South Africa compares
Relative to the rest of the game, South Africa is most expensive for gasoline, where it ranks 16th out of 32 countries at $1.42 — against a global median of $1.38.
It is relatively cheapest for apples at $1.80, which is 30th of 32 — only 2 countries in the game are cheaper.
Measured against local earnings rather than dollars, the item that takes the longest to afford here is big mac, at roughly 45 minutes of the average wage. Dollar prices and work-time prices often rank countries very differently — that gap is usually the more interesting number.
Play a puzzle
South Africa comes up in the daily puzzle roughly once every 33 days, paired with a different item each time. Play today's puzzle or browse the archive of past rounds.