By Dr Doma
Life in Sierra Leone has become a constant struggle for the majority of its citizens.
A new hardship survey put together by Arthur E. Pearce & Co, brings together the voices of market women, workers, and families, showing in plain numbers how daily survival has turned into a battle/war.
The survey compares the prices of everyday goods in 2018 and in 2025 and the difference is staggering.
A bag of rice that cost LE 235,000 seven years ago is now LE 700,000.
A pint of oil that was LE 3,500 has jumped to LE 14,000.
A simple cup of pepper, once sold at LE 700 per cup, now goes for LE 15,000 per cup.
Even gari, the food many turn to when times are hard, has gone up by 900 percent.
These numbers are not just statistics; they tell the story of families who can no longer afford the basics.
Meanwhile, salaries have hardly moved.
With a minimum wage of SLE 800, workers find themselves stretched beyond reason.
The survey shows that a family of four spends well over SLE 120 every day just to put food on the table.
For many households, this means a whole month’s salary runs out in less than a week.
The rest of the month is spent borrowing, depending on credit at the market or cutting down meals.
People now joke, “Salary week, but me salary weak” a bitter truth captured clearly in the survey.
Rent is another burden.
The report shows yearly rent running anywhere between SLE 10,000 and SLE 600,000 figures that leave low-income earners with little hope of decent housing.
Add transport costs, which easily take SLE 15 or more every day and families are squeezed from every angle.
This survey is not just about numbers.
It reflects the lives of real people in Bo, Freetown, Mongo Bendugu and beyond.
Mothers choosing between food and school fees, fathers walking long distances to save on transport, young people hustling just to keep households afloat.
The Leone itself has weakened badly against the dollar, moving from LE 765,000 in 2018 to 2.4 million in 2025.
This means anything imported rice, fuel, onions continues to rise beyond reach.
The question the survey leaves us with is simple: how long can Sierra Leoneans endure this? Wages no longer match the reality of market prices and every day feels like survival mode.
What Arthur Pearce’s work does is put evidence to what people already feel in their pockets.
It is a call to government and policymakers to take real steps whether by reviewing wages, controlling food prices or protecting tenants from exploitative rents.
The hardship survey is a mirror of our times.
It tells us that while the month may be long, salaries remain short. Unless action is taken, families will keep sinking deeper into poverty and “salary week” will remain a weak week for millions of Sierra Leoneans.
