Is Vanuatu expensive?

Vanuatu's overall price level is 104.7 against a United States baseline of 100 (2024 data), which makes it 5% dearer than the United States. It ranks 12th of 204 countries by price level, dearest first.

How does Vanuatu compare with New Zealand?

Vanuatu is 18% dearer than New Zealand on national price levels.

East Asia & Pacific · Port-Vila

Cost of living in Vanuatu

104.7 with the United States at 100

Prices in Vanuatu are 5% dearer than the United States, and it ranks 12th of 204 countries by price level (dearest first). Figures are for 2024.

Against New Zealand it is 18% dearer.

Compared with its region

Vanuatu against the East Asia & Pacific countries closest to it on price level.

SOURCE·World Bank — International Comparison Program·PPP conversion factor for household final consumption, and the official market exchange rate. CC BY 4.0.·REVIEWED AUG 2026

What is dear and what is cheap

No category breakdown is published for Vanuatu. Eurostat's category price levels cover Europe and a handful of others; Vanuatu is outside that programme, so this site has a national figure and no basket detail. Rather than borrow a plausible number from a neighbour, the gap is left where it is.

What this figure is, and is not

It is an index, not a price. 104.7 means the general level of consumer prices, with the US at 100. It is not a shopping bill and this site never quotes one.
It is national, not city. Port-Vila is almost certainly dearer than this. National averages cannot answer a city question.
It is not your budget. What you actually spend depends on rent, transport and habits far more than on the national average.

How the price level is worked out

The World Bank publishes a purchasing power parity for household consumption — how much local currency buys the same basket as one US dollar — and the official market exchange rate for the same year.
The price level is simply PPP ÷ exchange rate × 100. If a basket needs 1.50 New Zealand dollars per US dollar of purchasing power but the market hands you 1.65 New Zealand dollars for that dollar, New Zealand's prices sit at 1.50 ÷ 1.65 = 91% of the US level.
Nothing is modelled, smoothed or estimated. You can reproduce every number on this site from two public figures.
Where Eurostat also publishes a price level for the same country and year, the two are compared and the gap is printed — including when they disagree.

Full methodology →