Moving to Antananarivo

Today we look at moving to Antananarivo in Madagascar from Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. We highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced in our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations.
In Antananarivo people speak Malagasy (official), French. In Bishkek people speak Kyrgyz, Russian.

Antananarivo is the capital and largest city in Madagascar. Bishkek is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Antananarivo is the political and economic capital of Madagascar. The city is guarded by two forts built on hills to the east. Including an Anglican and a Roman Catholic cathedral, there are more than 5,000 churches in the city and its suburbs. The economy in Bishkek is primarily agricultural with the mass amounts of fruits, vegetables and livestock providing a co-existing system of bartering in the outlying regions.

The overall cost of living rank in Antananarivo is 195 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with low cost of living locations.  An expatriate moving from Bishkek to Antananarivo will experience a change in cost of living of 12.3%.
In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Antananarivo is ranked as an extreme hardship location with a hardship index of 40% compared to Bishkek with a hardship index of 40% which is an extreme hardship location.

Source: http://www.xpatulator.com as at July 2011.