DSSR · Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)

Lilongwe, Malawi COLA (Post Allowance) Rate (DSSR)

Effective date: August 23, 2026 Last updated: August 23, 2026
Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)
42%
% of spendable income

Historical rate trend

Lilongwe rate history — COLA (Post Allowance) (%). Query any past effective date directly via the API.

Effective date COLA (Post Allowance) (%)
Aug 23, 2026 42%
Feb 8, 2026 42%
Mar 10, 2024 25%
Oct 11, 2020 0%
Sep 7, 2014 20%
Jan 12, 2014 42%

How this rate is used

The post (cost-of-living) allowance offsets higher overseas costs of goods and services for U.S. government civilian employees assigned to Lilongwe. It is expressed as a percentage of spendable income and is used by mobility, HR and payroll teams to compute overseas compensation.

Get this data from the API

The exact request that returns this page's data. Change the date parameter to query any historical effective date, or pull it straight into your ERP, payroll, or expense system.

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://api.allowancesapi.com/v1/dssr/allowances/MW?type=cola"
Sample response
{
  "effective_date": "2026-08-23",
  "results": [
    {
      "cola": {
        "effective_date": "2026-08-23",
        "rate": 42
      },
      "iso_code": "MW",
      "location": "Lilongwe",
      "postcode": "10400"
    }
  ],
  "verification_url": "https://aoprals.state.gov/content.asp?content_id=184\u0026menu_id=78"
}

Lilongwe rate FAQ

What is the COLA (Post Allowance) rate for Lilongwe, Malawi?

The current DSSR COLA (Post Allowance) rate for Lilongwe, Malawi is 42%, effective Aug 23, 2026.

How has the Lilongwe COLA (Post Allowance) rate changed?

In Feb 8, 2026 the COLA (Post Allowance) rate was 42%. The full history is shown in the table above and is queryable by effective date via the API.

Source & methodology

Effective period
Effective Aug 23, 2026
Last updated
August 23, 2026

Allowances API is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any U.S. Government agency. All rate data is sourced from official public rate tables and re-published in a normalized format.