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Monday, March 23, 2009

The cost of living in Mauritius

Please add any information you think may be interesting and relevant.

31 comments:

Unknown said...

Salaries - yep, the big question and I know that you can't make direct comparisons but...

What's a good salary in Mu for an expat? I read somewhere that a doctor working in a state hospital in Mu would expect to earn about 30,000 MUR a month, is that accurate? How would the standard of living for that doctor compare to one in the UK? I'm not a doctor but, for my understanding, it's a good benchmark.

Thanks.

rain said...

An expat must earn minimum 30.000 Rs per month to be elegible of work permit (in any sector). I think a doctor will earn something more.
This salary is enough for living in Mauritius, but I think the cost of living is not that low and, if you have to rent a house, a car, maybe you have children that go to school, one salary of this amount it's just the minimum youhave to earn to live quite well.
Rain

Anonymous said...

The cost of living in Mauritius is very expensive and rising all the time. As an expat living here you would need to earn a lot more than Rs30,000 per month to live comfortably. The cost of schooling is high if you do not send your children to government schools (which are all french speaking); therefore English speaking children have to go to the private schools which charge a lot. The rental of a home on the Island to an expat is on average Rs40,000 per month at the lowest end of the scale rising to three or four times that amount. Food prices are on a par with the UK and electricity is very expensive. The prices of cars are also considerably higher than the UK.

aarbee said...

I would be grateful if someone could inform me of the current cost of living in Mauritius. I wôuld expect to have around Rs100'000 p.m. of my salary left over for living expenses, after housing, but before any other additional costs. i am considering relocation to Mauritius during October 2009.
Many thanks for any tips and advice

Helgaard Botha said...

Thank you for your excellent and well presented website. We have recently published a Cost of Living (COL)Survey for Mauritius, as a service to all our clients. We then compared prices of selected items with that in South Africa. The full COL survey can be viewed at www.fineandcountry.mu/site/property/press.
We would be happy to engage in discussion as to how this survey could be made more specific and user friendly.

Kind regards,

Unknown said...

Hi,

I got an offer in Mauritius with a salay of 69,000 Mauritius Rupees and accomidation and medical claim provided by the company.Can some one please let us know how much i can same per month.

Regards

Anonymous said...

Is Rs 30,000 enough for living in MU if one no house payment?

Cherrie said...

Dear All, Basically: International high schooling costs Rs23 000/child, school bus fare Rs1 350, food for a family of 3 cost Rs30 000, electricity Rs6 500, loan on a small 2nd hand car Rs7 000, a dinner out for 3 is about Rs2 500, a pizza Rs350, Dr consult Rs500, DSTV Rs2 400, maid & gardner Rs7 000. All very basic expenses for a month come to Rs75 000. So yes you most definately need more than Rs30 000 to live a basic life style. I must say I find the cost of living high but this is off set by the pleasures you get from living here.

Fanus said...

Hi Everybody

I could be moving to Mauritius in the near future from South Africa, and I would like an indication of what the following would cost per month:

Rent(two persons living in Grand Bay - 3 bed apartment):
Electricity/water:
Telephone:
Petrol:
Car loan:
DSTV:
Food:

What would the following cost:

Hamburger:
2L Coca Cola:
6 Beers:
2 Movie tickets:
Washing machine:
Lounge suite:
Bedroom suite:
Small car:
Dektop compuer:

Thanks
Fanus van der Merwe

Anonymous said...

I stayed in Mauritius from 1975 to 1978 and during that time

House rent 3 bedroom in Quatres bormes was MUR 900

Coke was MUR 1.0 per liter

A meal comprising of Dupain with sardine and margerine, One coke about MUR 1.0

Toyota Corolla (Duty Free) MUR24000

My Father use to get MUR 4000 and it was comfortable that time.

Now everything is so expensive

Island Style said...

Hi Cherrie, Your info has been most helpful in preparation for us moving there in October. Could you perhaps shine some light on the following costs please:
Dentist checkup
Rates / Water/Severage
Fuel for a small car p/m
ADSL at home

Also, if you don't mind sharing if your monthly grocery budget covers a basic food bill or do you include some extras in your food list?

Thanks so much,

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am a senior bank executive planning to move to Mauritius in the next 3 months. I have the following questions and would appreciate if someone could help me out:

How much would a 4 bed room furnished house cost in an upscale area?

Are there schools which offer IB program (English Speaking)? What is ave annual fee for such schools?

What would be monthly gorcery expense for a family of 6 ( 2 adults, 4 children) if living comfortably?

What is general physician's fee per visit?

beachbum said...

Hi Anonymous
For a 4 bed room house it all depends in which area you are planning to stay - the prices in Grand Baie, Floreal and Black River are pretty much the same and you will easily look at Rs100 000 pm. Those are popular areas to live in - otherwise you can get around with anything between Rs 30 - Rs 50 000 in places like Curepipe, Vacous, Albion, Flic & Flac.
Le Bocage International School in Moka offers the IB - been doing that for many years and great to visit. My kids are in the school and they love it. From the website you can follow the link to the schools website.
Groceries are always a difficult one and it depends on what you fancy - you can make it affordable or go for the more exotic stuff - but you will be fine ito groceries.
GP's fee - anything from Rs500 upwards and you pay the GP in the rooms if you don't make use of the hospital - something to get use to.

Bluebay said...

I would say that the cost of living in Mauritius is lower than in the main European Cities but higher than cities in India, Malaysia, Thailand etc.

A house will cost between MUR 10K to 50K monthly depending on size and location.

A small car will cost MUR 20K - 25K to hire a month. If you are talking about a BMW then it is 3 times that. Meaning that car hire will take up a huge chunk of your income.


If you add food, schooling and all the other possible expenses to go with a nice lifestyle then it is obvious that you need MUR 100,000 and more.

However if one is prepared to live modestly (use mainly public transport, modest flat, few nights out) I think that one might (and I say might) be able to live decently on MUR 50K a month

Anonymous said...

Hi
I may have a chance to move to Mauritius on a salary of 100 k US dollars. School and health fees paid. I calculate this to be around 2.9 million mur annually or 240000 mur monthly. Can I expect to live a decent life on this? I have a wife and 3 kids.

Chris said...

Hi all,

I am in a similar position as I may have a chance to move to Mauritius on a salary of around £45 - £50K. It is just myself and my partner moving, so will this be a realistic wage for us both to live on in Grand Baie?

Also I have been asked to decide whether to be paid in US dollars or Mauritian Rupees. Can anyone advise on which would be best from a cost of living perspective.

Many thanks!!

Anonymous said...

Hello People
Mauritius is an expensive country. Inflation is high. So unless you are not making 100 000 rs or above 3500$ monthly, forget it. Things are expensive.About the cost of products in MRu, everything is much more expensive than in Europe because everything is imported. Veggies might be a little bit inexpensive but not that much. Fast Food is about same price than in UK. Unless you get an offer for 5000$ , i don't think you should move there. Life is hard there. Traffic is awful .If you are holidays it is good but to live, not exactly paradise it is set to be in the brochures.

neil said...

Hello all,

Been offered a job at 120,000MR per month + 10,000 housing allowance + 30,000 car allowance. I didn't expect a fortune to go there and job is really exciting but looking at house rentals etc. the salary doesn't look lavish and I might struggle to fund 3 or 4 return trips to UK. Any views?

Anonymous said...

Why is the cost of living so high? From what I hear, Mauritius is not such a developed country, maybe compared to some other African countries, but still why so high? Sounds like cost of living there exceeds USA or UK. What type of jobs over there pay these 100k salaries?

drjillb said...

I am intrigued. Cost of living comparators such as numbeo.com make Mauritius appear much less expensive than the UK. Would be grateful for up-to-date prices for rental of a 4-bed apartment/house and for a good primary and secondary school (names & costs would be perfect). Thank you!

Anonymous said...

It all depends on your expectations. Are you renting your car at home as well? I never did, only when I needed replacement after an accident or a break down. Behave here like a foreigner and you will be treated like one AND you will pay the prices your arrogant behavior requires! Integrate a bit and adapt to local realities and you can leave with much much less than you're all quoting! OK - I admit the problem of kids not speaking french. This will cost you much. But why coming here then. If you're planning to stay for a while, why not sending the kids to normal schools? They're not good enough? Only for the lower class people? No - if you think like that you wrong to come here. I am here since 14 years - my kids go to Government schools. We're living in a nice house near seaside with a big yard and a garage for my car ( bought not rented ). We're all not living in misery but spending Rs 100,000 or more per month?? I would get crazy about that. My house costs 13,000 Rs, my car I bought for 450,000 Rs ( new ), my electricity costs reach about 2,000 a month and I don't use aircon 24/7 - open windows do same job. Just sometimes you can't sleep without aircon - then I use it wisely. Our expenses for food can be quoted with
10-15K rs a month but can easily go up if we buy in the 'Shopping Paradises' and Malls and spend a fortune for imported food. We have as well local foods here und you can eat it.

I don't mind if somebody spends his money because he doesn't know whatelese to do with it, but did you ever think about that there are lots of local people here living with just 10 to 15K ( Rupees per month ) with all their family? I don't want to mention thos with much much less!!!

Reading your discussion can make it understandable why many people, as well here, do not like this foreigners coming here to catch the jobs from locals and get paid for it with a fortune. The view is wrong, I know, but I can understand as well those who think so. Nobody should come here without the will to integrate and the passion to help the country!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous who wrote on the 12 November 2012, you are so right !!! It is a modern society problem that some people just do not integrate, these people would not be intelligent enough to be welcomed to Mauritius. I believe people who immigrate to MU without even respecting the local realities should deserve to not be given a visa to access this paradise. It is the stupidity and ignorance of these foreign workers (some of them, not all) which has strongly contributed to the massive raise in the cost of living, and this rampant inflation. I love the part where you say "nobody should come here ..... passion to help the country", that sums it up perfectly. I would never want to move to the US if I had no love for the US environment, american people, their society and customs. And the same must apply to people dreaming of coming here. Don't come here if you don't agree.

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alv33 said...

Planning to relocate to mauritius. As of now, what would be a good salary to lead a comfortable life. Is ebene a nice place to live.

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Anonymous said...

Cost of living there is WAY more expensive than the UK and USA. I was thinking of going to study there (I'm from RSA) but after researching it doesn't seem as lavashed as it appears die to high prices and inflation. Their currency is stonger than the rand (south African currency) R-1is about roughly 2.5 rupees yet it is still way more expensive to live there than RSA witg the exchange rate included. So the UK or US it is...

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