# Zanzibar for Digital Nomads

> Island prices, slow wifi

Zanzibar (Paje), Tanzania, Africa

Canonical page: https://nomadbase.com/destinations/zanzibar
Last reviewed: 2026-08-05

Every figure below carries its source and measurement date. Where no reliable source exists the field is left out rather than estimated.

## Zanzibar at a glance

Paje's lagoon is the reason: a tide-swept turquoise flat with 5 kite spots mapped along the coast (OpenStreetMap: July 2026, within 30 km), a village-scale beach economy at a national price level of 26 (US = 100) (World Bank: price level of household consumption), and Stone Town's Swahili-coast history an hour inland. The terms are printed just as clearly: the measured internet is barely there at 5.4 Mbps median download (M-Lab: median download speed) — Starlink and bundles are the working reality — and every entry is paid: the eVisa covers most passports with a separate, pricier rule for US ones (Government sources: checked 2026-07-29).

The island asks for cultural literacy alongside the postcard: this is a conservative Muslim society where village dress codes and Ramadan rhythms are part of residency, and the tap water is not for drinking (Nomadbase country research: country tap-water tier). Two monsoon seasons bracket the year; the kite winds arrive on their own calendar (Copernicus ERA5: 25 kiteable days at ≥ 25 km/h in 2025 — the trade winds blow gentler and steadier than that threshold captures).

It suits you if wind, water and simplicity outrank infrastructure, and respectful adaptation comes naturally. It suits you less if your work punishes slow pipes or your patience punishes island logistics — everything here arrives on boat time.

| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The lagoon: kite flats, tide theatre, village scale | Barely-there wifi: 5.4 Mbps (M-Lab: median download speed) |
| National price level 26 (US = 100) (World Bank: household consumption) | Paid entry for everyone; US passports pay more (Government sources: checked 2026-07-29) |
| Stone Town's history and spice-farm interior an hour away | Tap water is not drinkable (Nomadbase country research: tier); infrastructure improvises |
| A warm sea and trade-wind seasons | Conservative dress codes off the beach are part of residency |

## Key figures

| Figure | Value | Source | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air quality PM2.5 (modelled) | 9.2 µg/m³ | Copernicus CAMS via Open-Meteo, modelled 30-day mean | 2026-08-17 |
| Airports within 100 km | 2 within 100km | OurAirports, major and regional airports with scheduled service | 2026-07-29 |
| Nearest major airport | 34 km | OurAirports — nearest major airport is Abeid Amani Karume International Airport | 2026-07-29 |
| Cafés mapped | 11 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Coworking spaces mapped | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Gyms mapped | 1 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Queer venues mapped | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Bars, pubs and clubs mapped | 20 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Nightlife share of cafés | 14.2 per 100 restaurants & cafés | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Restaurants mapped | 130 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegan-friendly places mapped | 4 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegan share of cafés | 2.8 per 100 restaurants & cafés | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegetarian-friendly places mapped | 10 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Vegetarian share of cafés | 7.1 per 100 restaurants & cafés | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Yoga studios mapped | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-08-05 |
| Banking access index (country) | 4.5 score 0-10 | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Banking in practice (country) | No Wise or Revolut coverage, so the local account and mobile money carry everything. Company accounts follow the TIN. | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Company setup index (country) | 8 score 0-10 | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Company setup in practice (country) | BRELA's online registration system handles a company in under a week with symbolic capital. Most sectors allow full foreign ownership; Zanzibar has its own investment authority and its own rules. | Nomadbase business rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-31 | 2026-07-31 |
| Average cloud cover | 47 % | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average | 2025-12-31 |
| Nomadbase climate comfort index | 5.1 index 0-10 | Nomadbase comfort index from Copernicus ERA5 2025 monthly means | 2025-12-31 |
| Mild months (felt 18–27 °C) | 2 months/year | Nomadbase comfort index from Copernicus ERA5 2025 monthly means | 2025-12-31 |
| climate monthly profile | [{"m":1,"t":31.8,"r":0.19,"c":0.45},{"m":2,"t":31.6,"r":0.14,"c":0.43},{"m":3,"t":33.1,"r":0.74,"c":0.52},{"m":4,"t":31,"r":0.97,"c":0.72},{"m":5,"t":29.3,"r":0.94,"c":0.68},{"m":6,"t":27.7,"r":0.77,"c":0.4},{"m":7,"t":26.3,"r":0.55,"c":0.4},{"m":8,"t":26.4,"r":0.26,"c":0.54},{"m":9,"t":27.8,"r":0.2,"c":0.28},{"m":10,"t":29.2,"r":0.42,"c":0.37},{"m":11,"t":31.5,"r":0.47,"c":0.36},{"m":12,"t":32.3,"r":0.42,"c":0.47}] | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 monthly means (felt temperature, rain-day share, cloud share) | 2025-12-31 |
| Rain days per year | 185 days/year | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 full-year count | 2025-12-31 |
| Dry days per year | 180 days/year | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 full-year count | 2025-12-31 |
| Average temperature (year) | 26.7 C | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average | 2025-12-31 |
| Average temperature (summer) | 28.3 C | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 summer average (Dec-Feb) | 2025-12-31 |
| Average temperature (winter) | 25.1 C | Copernicus ERA5, 2025 winter average (Jun-Aug) | 2025-12-31 |
| Café latte | 3.32 EUR | Published price: Mr. Kahawa Boutique Hotel & Cafe-Restaurant, Paje — own "New Menu 2025" (10,000 TZS), A named Paje cafe's OWN official menu, read page by page from the image-based PDF. Menu block: CAPPUCCINO 8K, LATTE MACCHIATO 10K, LARGE CAPPUCCINO 10K, ESPRESSO/AMERICANO 6K, FLAT WHITE 8K — denominated in thousands of shillings. Choice of cow or coconut milk, soy +2k. Dine-in price, not a delivery platform., checked 2026-07-30. Converted at the Bank of Tanzania rate for 2026-07-30 (The table prints only "Buying | Selling | Mean"; BoT attaches no adjective to it. perEur is BoT's own Mean column for the euro.). ⚠️ BoT's daily "Mean" appears to be derived from the PREVIOUS day's interbank session: the 30 Jul selling leg (2660.95) is all but identical to the 29 Jul interbank weighted average (2660.96), which puts the mean about 0.5% below the actual clearing level. The same interbank page shows a real intraday band (High 2669 / Low 2650 on 31.9m USD). Tanzania has had FX-shortage episodes where bureau rates ran well above interbank; BoT publishes no bureau series, so the size of any current retail gap is unverified. | 2026-07-30 |
| Country price level (US = 100) | 26 US=100 | World Bank price level index for Tanzania, 2025 (US = 100) | 2025-12-31 |
| Coworking desk per month | 158 EUR/month | Published price: Dar Mar Zanzibar (Paje), monthly coworking rate as listed on coworker.com (180 USD), Published plan verbatim: Daily "$10", Monthly "$180" "price / person"; header badge "Coworking Space from $180 /month". PAJE ONLY, deliberately: the only other USD-publishing Zanzibar space is The Train's House at $162/month, but it is in Stone Town, and a median across the two would describe neither place — every other metric on this page is measured at the Paje coordinate. Currency verified as genuine USD, not a directory conversion: the operator's own prose on the same page reads "Access fees for the coworking space: 10 USD per day", matching the $10 daily plan, and other Zanzibar spaces display natively in TSh on the same site. Directory-sourced rather than operator-sourced because darmar-zanzibar.com fails its TLS handshake in curl, python and Chrome alike — hence medium. Consistent with our OSM sweep, which found 0 tagged coworking spaces within 15 km of Paje., checked 2026-07-30 | 2026-07-30 |
| cost eating out monthly modelled | 22 EUR/month | Modelled eating out for Tanzania (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 26.0 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| eSIM data, 30 days | 23.5 EUR | Published price: Airalo Tanzania eSIM ("Tanzacomm", 10 GB / 30 days), Package slug tanzacomm-in-30days-10gb, published price {"amount":"23.50","formatted":"23.50 €"}, currency token resolves to EUR. Rendered page shows Unlimited only (30 days 89.50 €). Neighbours: 5 GB/30d 14.50 €, 20 GB/30d 40.00 €. Country-level product, so Paje and Stone Town are the same price., checked 2026-07-30 | 2026-07-30 |
| cost food monthly modelled | 109 EUR/month | Modelled groceries for Tanzania (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 26.0 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| 3-star hotel per night | 67 EUR/night | Published price: Booking.com, 3-star Paje, night 12-13 Aug 2026, 2 adults, Median of the first 3 listed, all in Paje itself (300-800 m from the centre) and all "Includes taxes and fees": Mlango Paje Villa Boutique EUR 67, Villa Kiota EUR 54, NDAME Paje Hotel EUR 126. Heading read "Paje: 10 properties found". Paje's 3-star inventory is villa and guesthouse stock rather than classic hotels, so the cards render no star badge. 12 Aug is Zanzibar high season, so this sits above a yearly average., checked 2026-07-30 | 2026-07-30 |
| cost leisure monthly modelled | 70 EUR/month | Modelled leisure for Tanzania (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 26.0 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| cost transport monthly modelled | 9 EUR/month | Modelled local transport for Tanzania (country level, not city): Eurostat DE reference 2022 scaled by World Bank price level 26.0 vs 81.2 (2025) and ICP 2021 category structure | 2025-12-31 |
| English proficiency (EF EPI) | 479 EF EPI score | EF EPI 2025 (country level, transcribed via Wikipedia) | 2025-11-01 |
| Hospitals and clinics mapped | 5 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-07-31 |
| Pharmacies mapped | 5 count | OpenStreetMap, within 15km | 2026-07-31 |
| Internet download (median) | 5.4 Mbps | M-Lab median of 623 tests within 50 km, last 7 days | 2026-08-11 |
| LGBTQ+ legal index (country) | 0 score 0-10 | Nomadbase legal-position rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| LGBTQ+ in practice (country) | Same-sex acts carry up to life imprisonment on the mainland and are separately criminalised in Zanzibar; the ban is actively enforced, with arrests and crackdowns documented since 2016. Any public expression or dating-app use carries real risk. | Nomadbase legal-position rubric (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Kiteable wind days per year | 25 days/year | Days in 2025 with peak sustained wind ≥ 25 km/h (ERA5 via Open-Meteo, 10 m) | 2025-12-31 |
| Kitesurf spots mapped nearby | 5 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-08-05 |
| Surf spots mapped nearby | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-08-05 |
| Getting by in English (0–10) | 3.16 score 0-10 | EF EPI 2025 (country level, transcribed via Wikipedia) | 2025-11-01 |
| Beaches mapped within 30 km | 27 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Mapped coastline within 30 km | 33 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Nature reserves and parks within 30 km | 3 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Hiking routes within 30 km | 0 count | OpenStreetMap, within 30km | 2026-07-31 |
| Population | 63156 people | National statistics: 63,156 in Kusini District Council (South District), Kusini Unguja Region. census 2022, National Bureau of Statistics Tanzania and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician Zanzibar, 2022 Population and Housing Census. scale fit against our 15 km amenity radius: good. chosen over the Kusini Unguja Region at 195,873, which is 3x too large because it adds Kati Town Council, whose population clusters 25 km away on the Zanzibar City side. ONE CORRECTION TO SECONDARY SOURCES: Paje sits in Kusini District Council, NOT Kati/Central District as several secondary sources imply — verified against the shehia list in the census tables. Using Kati (132,717) would have been about 3x wrong. The circle covers the east-coast shehias Paje, Bwejuu, Dongwe, Michamvi, Jambiani Kikadini, Jambiani Kibigija, Kitogani, Muungoni and the Muyuni shehias, i.e. the northern two-thirds of this district; it excludes the far-southern Makunduchi and Kizimkazi clusters (about 23,500 people, 17-20 km out) and barely reaches into Kati. Estimated in-circle population is therefore about 45,000 against the district's 63,156 — the closest official unit by a wide margin, and the circle is mostly Indian Ocean so no island-wide unit fits. checked 2026-07-30 | 2022-07-01 |
| Homicide rate (country) | 3.3 per 100k | UNODC intentional homicide rate for Tanzania, 2024 | 2024-12-31 |
| Women, Peace and Security index (country) | 6.52 score 0-10 | Georgetown WPS Index 2023 (country level, transcribed via Wikipedia) | 2023-10-01 |
| Tap water in practice (country) | Tap water is not safe to drink anywhere without treatment, including Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar; use bottled or filtered water only. | Nomadbase tap-water tier (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Tap water index (country) | 1 score 0-10 | Nomadbase tap-water tier (country level), checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Working-hours overlap with Central Europe | 6 hours/day | Nomadbase overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Open-Meteo time zone (Africa/Dar_es_Salaam), standard time; Europe reference UTC+1 | 2026-08-17 |
| Working-hours overlap with US East | 0 hours/day | Nomadbase overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Open-Meteo time zone (Africa/Dar_es_Salaam), standard time; US East reference UTC-5 | 2026-08-17 |
| UTC offset | 3 hours from UTC | Open-Meteo time zone (Africa/Dar_es_Salaam), standard time | 2026-08-17 |
| Remote-work visa route (0–10) | 0 score 0-10 | No remote-work visa route (checked 2026-07-29) | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (Australian passport) | 0 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (Canadian passport) | 0 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (EU passport) | 0 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (UK passport) | 0 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Visa-free days (US passport) | 0 days | Editorial visa research, checked 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |

## Scores (0–10, blend of public data and community reports)

| Category | Score | Public data | Community | Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cost | 9.6 | 9.6 | — | 0 |
| fun | 3.02 | 3.02 | — | 0 |
| internet | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| safety | 3.56 | 3.56 | — | 0 |
| climate | 6.85 | 6.85 | — | 0 |
| amenity | 1.6 | 1.6 | — | 0 |
| vegan | 6.57 | 6.57 | — | 0 |
| lgbtq | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| water | 1 | 1 | — | 0 |
| flights | 1.86 | 1.86 | — | 0 |
| visa | 0 | 0 | — | 0 |
| lifestyle | 1.54 | 1.54 | — | 0 |
| vegetarian | 8.63 | 8.63 | — | 0 |
| nightlife | 4.22 | 4.22 | — | 0 |
| nature | 4.95 | 4.95 | — | 0 |
| health | 2.36 | 2.36 | — | 0 |
| locals | 3.16 | 3.16 | — | 0 |
| business | 6.25 | 6.25 | — | 0 |
| women | 6.52 | 6.52 | — | 0 |

## Visa & entry (Tanzania)

Every entry needs a visa: USD 50 eVisa or on arrival, up to 90 days, one visa for mainland and Zanzibar — except US passports, which must buy the USD 100 multiple-entry version. The repeatedly floated Zanzibar nomad visa has not materialised; long stays run on multiple-entry visas and border runs.

### How long you can stay

No visa-free entry for EU, US, UK, Canadian or Australian passports. The ordinary single-entry visa costs USD 50, is granted for up to 90 days, and covers both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar — pick your first entry point in the form, no second visa needed between the two. Apply on the official portal (visa.immigration.go.tz) or pay on arrival; the eVisa spares you the airport queue. One official quirk: US passport holders are required to take the USD 100 multiple-entry visa (12 months validity, maximum three months per stay) even for a single trip.

### Staying longer as a remote worker

There is no digital nomad visa, and remote work on a tourist visa sits in the usual grey zone: tolerated in practice for foreign-sourced work, with no legal category behind it. A Zanzibar nomad-residence scheme has been publicly discussed since 2021 and was still being floated through 2024–2026 — as of mid-2026 nothing has launched. Do not plan around it.

What long-stayers actually use: the USD 100 multiple-entry visa plus a border run (Kenya is the classic) every three months. In-country extensions beyond the initial grant are at immigration-office discretion and not something to build a plan on. The only formal long-stay route is investment: since 2024 Zanzibar issues a renewable two-year Class C investor residence permit through ZIPA for a minimum USD 100,000 investment, typically in approved property — a residence-by-investment product, not a nomad visa.

> Visa rules change frequently. This information was last checked on 2026-07-29. It is not legal advice — confirm with the official source before booking: https://visa.immigration.go.tz/

## Living in Zanzibar

### Where to stay

**Paje** is the hub — kite schools, beach cafés, the working crowd — with **Jambiani** stretching quieter village life southward and **Bwejuu** north. **Stone Town** is the urban counterweight for history-first stays with better logistics and no beach. The east-coast trade: lagoon at the door versus the sunset west coast's deeper resort polish at Kendwa-Nungwi. Most remote workers land in the Paje-Jambiani band and calibrate.

### Finding a place

Guesthouses and villas negotiate monthly with real depth — direct conversation beats platforms decisively — and the season's arithmetic peaks around the year's turn. The inspection is elemental: the internet stack (Starlink dish or verified fibre line), water tank and pressure, generator plan for the outage rhythm, and mosquito screening that seals. Village-adjacent living rewards meeting the neighbours early.

### Working from here

A few beach coworks and Starlink-equipped cafés anchor Paje's laptop trade; the villa office with its own dish is the serious setup. The European time zone gift is real (Copernicus ERA5: overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Central Europe) — mornings free for the tide, clients in the afternoon. Power cuts are routine and brief; the island teaches battery discipline fast.

### Getting around

Dala-dalas run the coast road cheaply and characterfully; scooters and quads rent everywhere (licence checks are a police revenue rhythm — papers in order); taxis negotiate. Stone Town is an hour's drive. Nothing moves fast, which becomes the point or the problem within the first fortnight.

### Money

Cash rules — shillings for the village, dollars for rent — with ATMs concentrated in Stone Town and card acceptance thin on the east coast. The arithmetic is gentle at village level and resort-priced where resorts stand. Bargaining is social grammar in markets, not combat.

### Staying safe

The village register is warm and watchful; petty theft from beaches and unlocked rooms is the genre, managed with ordinary care and the guesthouse safe. Walking the beach roads late is fine in company, less advised alone. The cultural layer is the real safety skill: covered shoulders and knees off the beach, Ramadan discretion, and asking before photographing people. The sea's ledger: tide currents at the reef cuts, urchins underfoot (booties), and the lagoon's outgoing pull respected by every kite school for good reason.

### Seasons

Two monsoons write the year: the long rains around March to May (deep green, quiet, occasionally sodden) and the short rains in November. Between them run the dry seasons — the December-to-February kite peak with the kaskazi wind, and the June-to-September kusi season, cooler and steady. The heat stays tropical throughout; the humidity votes with the rains. Tide tables structure daily life more than any forecast — the lagoon empties and refills on a six-hour argument.

### Meeting people

The kite-and-freedive crowd forms the visible community — schools, beach bars and sunset debriefs — over a Swahili village society whose greetings ritual (learn them; they matter) opens genuine welcome. The scene is small, seasonal and warm; the deeper island culture rewards language effort and patience with something better than scene.

### Staying active

Wind and water are the syllabus: kite progression on the flats, freediving and diving off the reef walls, paddling the lagoon at high tide, and dawn beach runs on packed low-tide sand. Yoga surfaces at the beach lodges; gyms barely exist and are missed by nobody (OpenStreetMap: July 2026). The Jozani forest walk and spice-farm cycling fill the wind's days off.

### Time off

Stone Town's alleys, the spice farms and Prison Island make the classic rotation; Nungwi-Kendwa's west coast supplies the sunset-swimming contrast; Mnemba's reef is the snorkel pilgrimage. The mainland adds Dar's flights and the Serengeti-Kilimanjaro circuit as the long-break tier — the safari is, after all, a ferry-and-flight away.

## Frequently asked questions

### How fast is the internet in Zanzibar?

Median download speed is about 5.4 Mbps. Source: M-Lab median of 623 tests within 50 km, last 7 days.

### What visa do I need for Zanzibar?

Every entry needs a visa: USD 50 eVisa or on arrival, up to 90 days, one visa for mainland and Zanzibar — except US passports, which must buy the USD 100 multiple-entry version. The repeatedly floated Zanzibar nomad visa has not materialised; long stays run on multiple-entry visas and border runs. Last checked 2026-07-29. Always confirm with the official source before booking.

### What is the weather like in Zanzibar?

Winters average 25.1 °C and summers 28.3 °C. 2 of 12 months average a comfortable 18–27 °C (felt temperature). Source: Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average.

### Can I work European or US hours from Zanzibar?

A 09:00–17:00 working day in Zanzibar overlaps 6 hours with Central European time and 0 hours with US Eastern time, at standard time.

### How do you get to Zanzibar?

The nearest major airport is about 34 km away. 2 airports with scheduled service within 100 km. Source: OurAirports — nearest major airport is Abeid Amani Karume International Airport.

## Sources

- **Copernicus CAMS** (© ECMWF/Copernicus) — Modelled air quality, used only where no ground station exists. A 40km model cell, not a measurement on the corner — the page says which of the two you are looking at. https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/
- **OurAirports** (Public domain) — Airport locations and types. Distances are to the nearest major airport with scheduled service. https://ourairports.com/
- **OpenStreetMap** (ODbL) — Community-mapped places: coworking, cafés, gyms and diet options within 15km. Counts are a floor rather than a census — coverage depends on local mappers. https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
- **Copernicus ERA5** (Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information) — ECMWF’s ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Temperatures, rainfall, cloud cover and wind are daily values for the last complete calendar year. https://open-meteo.com/
- **Nomadbase comfort index** — Our own reading of ERA5 data, not a measurement: a month-by-month score for how comfortable the felt temperature is, damped for rain and cloud. The formula is published. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **Published prices** — Prices read by hand from the operator’s or authority’s own published price list — a transit tariff, a coworking rate card, an eSIM store — on the date shown. Checked quarterly; the linked page is the source. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **World Bank** (CC BY 4.0) — Price level of household consumption at market exchange rates (US = 100) — a national figure that anchors the cost score where no city-level source exists yet. It measures what arriving with foreign income feels like, which is why a weak currency lowers it. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/PA.NUS.PRVT.PLI
- **M-Lab** (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Internet speed from real speed tests run by people in the city, aggregated over a seven-day window. https://www.measurementlab.net/
- **Nomadbase country research** — Hand-maintained country tables for the LGBTQ+ legal position and tap-water safety, compiled from advocacy databases (ILGA World, Human Dignity Trust), national authorities and government travel advice, and scored with a published rubric. Country-level by nature — city reality can differ, which is what the practical note is for. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **National statistics offices** — Resident population read by hand from the responsible census or statistics authority — the figure that turns a raw count of workspaces or cafés into a per-100k comparison. The unit is named next to the number, because it has to match the 15 km radius our amenity counts use: for a beach town that is a district, for a lake it is a group of municipios. https://nomadbase.com/destinations#how-we-score
- **UNODC** (Free with attribution) — Intentional homicide rate from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime — a national figure, because no free source measures crime per city. The year next to the number is the year the country last reported. https://dataunodc.un.org/
- **Government sources** — Visa and entry rules come from the responsible authority for each country, linked in the visa section and re-checked by hand on the date shown.

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