At **** U.S. dollars, Switzerland has the most expensive Big Macs in the world, according to the January 2025 Big Mac index. Concurrently, the cost of a Big Mac was **** dollars in the U.S., and **** U.S. dollars in the Euro area. What is the Big Mac index? The Big Mac index, published by The Economist, is a novel way of measuring whether the market exchange rates for different countries’ currencies are overvalued or undervalued. It does this by measuring each currency against a common standard – the Big Mac hamburger sold by McDonald’s restaurants all over the world. Twice a year the Economist converts the average national price of a Big Mac into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate at that point in time. As a Big Mac is a completely standardized product across the world, the argument goes that it should have the same relative cost in every country. Differences in the cost of a Big Mac expressed as U.S. dollars therefore reflect differences in the purchasing power of each currency. Is the Big Mac index a good measure of purchasing power parity? Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the idea that items should cost the same in different countries, based on the exchange rate at that time. This relationship does not hold in practice. Factors like tax rates, wage regulations, whether components need to be imported, and the level of market competition all contribute to price variations between countries. The Big Mac index does measure this basic point – that one U.S. dollar can buy more in some countries than others. There are more accurate ways to measure differences in PPP though, which convert a larger range of products into their dollar price. Adjusting for PPP can have a massive effect on how we understand a country’s economy. The country with the largest GDP adjusted for PPP is China, but when looking at the unadjusted GDP of different countries, the U.S. has the largest economy.

As of January 2025, Argentina had the highest Big Mac Index and Guatemala, the lowest, among the Latin American countries measured. The so-called Big Mac Index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. In Guatemala, it was estimated that a Big Mac would cost an average of 4.01 U.S. dollars, while the average price for a Big Mac burger in Brazil amounted to approximately 4.03 U.S. dollars. How is the Big Mac Index calculated?The Bic Mac index has been published annually by The Economist since 1986 and is rated as a simplified indicator of a country’s individual purchasing power. As many countries have different currencies, the standardized Big Mac prices are calculated by converting the average national Big Mac prices with the latest exchange rate to U.S. dollars. The Big Mac, as the top-selling McDonald’s burger, is used for comparison because it is available in almost every country and manufactured in a standardized size, composition and quality.McDonald's in Latin AmericaMcDonald’s is a worldwide operating fast food restaurant chain with headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. In Latin America, McDonald's largest franchisee is Arcos Dorados Holdings, with headquarters in Montevideo, Uruguay. Brazil is the largest Latin American market for McDonald's when it comes to the size of the franchise network, as over 1,000 McDonald's restaurants are in operation in the Brazilian territory.

India’s share of global gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 8.25 percent in 2024 when adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) and was projected to increase to 10 percent by 2030. This reflects the growth of India’s economy, which is helped in this ranking by the low purchasing power of the rupee. The Indian economy A significant portion of India’s economic growth comes from a shift in the workforce from the agricultural sector to the more-productive service sector. This labor force shift is particularly significant in India because of the country’s staggering population figures. As such, changes in the Indian economy have an impact on a significant portion of the world population. What does PPP mean? The Economist magazine uses the Big Mac Index to illustrate purchasing power. Since the product should be the same in every country that has a McDonalds, the Big Mac’s price should reflect the purchasing power of each local currency. For the calculation in this statistic, economists took the prices of several standard goods (though not the Big Mac) and put them at the same level based on their prices in the local currency. Thus, the power of these currencies to purchase was put on par across countries, giving purchasing power parity. As such, this statistic can be interpreted as the relative size of the Indian economy if the whole world used the Indian rupee price levels.