Moving to Niamey

Today we look at moving to Niamey in Niger from Podgorica in Montenegro. 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 Niamey people speak French (official), Arabic, Hausa, Songhai. In Podgorica people speak Christianity, Islam.

Niamey is the capital and largest city of the West African nation of Niger. Podgorica is the capital and largest city of Montenegro. Niamey is the administrative, cultural and economic center. The city is located in a pearl millet growing region, while manufacturing industries include bricks, ceramic goods, cement and weaving. Podgorica is the administrative centre of Montenegro. Most of Montenegro's industrial, financial and commercial base is in Podgorica.

The overall cost of living rank in Niamey is 178 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with middle cost of living locations.  An expatriate moving from Podgorica to Niamey will experience a change in cost of living of 3%.
In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Niamey is ranked as an extreme hardship location with a hardship index of 40% compared to Podgorica with a hardship index of 30% which is a high degree of hardship location.

Source: Cost of living Niamey, Niger as at July 2011.