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.

The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. The average price for a Big Mac burger in Mexico was estimated at 4.6 U.S. dollars in January 2025. Due to the high increases during the last few years, the Big Mac burger price became one of the highest in Latin America. Big Mac Index 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 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. Power Purchasing Parity This conversion endeavor seeks to level the purchasing power disparities among nations by neutralizing price discrepancies. Notably, in Mexico, the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) has demonstrated a consistent upward trajectory, yielding positive repercussions on the minimum wage for the labor force. This, in turn, has triggered a favorable effect on the affordability of the essential food basket. Furthermore, this upswing has propelled five major Mexican cities into the upper positions of PPP rankings within Latin America. Consequently, Mexico now stands as the 15th largest global economy, a status achieved despite a slight, yet steady, decline in its share of the global GDP, which is adjusted according to PPP metrics.

Context

Data and methodology for the Big Mac index https://www.economist.com/news/2018/07/11/the-big-mac-index.

Updated yearly, with data from 1986 to 2019.

Content

• big-mac-raw-index.csv contains values for the “raw” index
• big-mac-adjusted-index.csv contains values for the “adjusted” index
• big-mac-full-index.csv contains both

Acknowledgements

Banner Photo by amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash

This software is published by The Economist under the MIT licence. The data generated by The Economist are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The licences include only the data and the software authored by The Economist, and do not cover any Economist content or third-party data or content made available using the software. More information about licensing, syndication and the copyright of Economist content can be found here.

From https://github.com/TheEconomist/big-mac-data

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.

In 2024, Brazil was the sixth Latin American country where buying a Big Mac was the most expensive. The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. The average price for a Big Mac burger in Brazil was estimated at **** U.S. dollars in January 2024, an increase in price in comparison to the previous year. In the past decade, the Big Mac index in Brazil went below the * dollar threshold in January 2016. Big Mac IndexThe 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 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.

The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. In Costa Rica, the average price for a Big Mac burger was estimated at *** U.S. dollars in January 2025. Costa Rica price for a Big Mac is among the highest in Latin America, only behind Uruguay and Argentina. Big Mac IndexThe Big 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 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.

Inflation in Costa Rica Costa Rica ranks in the middle table of Latin American countries with the highest inflation rates, nonetheless, in the Central American region it’s only behind Honduras. During 2022, the inflation rate of Costa Rica was ****, after many years of low rates, the global inflation crisis accelerated the price increases in the country. Some sectors were impacted more heavily than others, in June 2023, the industry with the highest Consumer Price Index (CPI) was food and non-alcoholic beverages, in contrast, the communications sector presented the lowest.

The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. In 2025, the average price for a Big Mac burger in Chile was estimated at 4.55 U.S. dollars. Big Mac IndexThe 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 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.

Inflation in Chile During 2022, the inflation rate of Chile was 11.25 percent, in general, price increases in the South American country remained low from 2009 to 2021. Nonetheless, with the global inflation crisis in the following years the rate increased significantly. Still, Chile remains with an inflation lower than the Latin America average. Moreover, price increases have been impacting sectors differently, in June 2023, the industry with the highest inter-annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) was alcoholic beverages and tobacco, in contrast, the communications sector recorded a slight deflation.

The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. The average price for a Big Mac burger in Colombia was estimated at **** U.S. dollars in January 2025. Colombia price for a Big Mac is among the four highest in Latin America. Big Mac IndexThe 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 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. Inflation in Colombia Over the past two decades, Colombia has generally seen a decline in the inflation rate, with a small upward trend as of 2023, reaching ***** percent. However, there are forecasts indicating a steady decline in the inflation rate for the next five years. In the year 2024, the annual inflation rate has been lower compared to previous years, particularly in the sector of information and communication, which recorded a negative inflation rate of *** percent, This has placed Colombia at the fifth position among Latin American countries with the highest annual inflation rate in comparison to previous years as of 2023.

The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. The average price for a Big Mac burger in Uruguay was estimated at **** U.S. dollars in January 2025. In comparison to the value registered a year earlier, this represents a considerable increase. In Latin America, Uruguay had the highest price for a Big Mac in 2024. Big Mac IndexThe 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 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.

Geoscience Australia distributes a range of Antarctica maps and images at various scales and currency, on behalf of Australian Antarctic Division. These products are very diverse and include topographic maps and satellite images, ranging from landscape specific (1:1,000 scale) to regional (1:20,000,000) scale.

The average price for a Big Mac burger in Peru was estimated at 4.53 U.S. dollars in January 2025. The so-called Big Mac index is regarded as an indicator for the purchasing power of an economy. Buying a Big Mac in Peru is cheaper than, for instance, in neighboring Chile. Big Mac IndexThe 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 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.

Inflation in Peru After two years of hyperinflation in 1989 and 1990, the inflation rate of Peru slowed down until 2022, following the trend of the global inflation crisis. Nonetheless, the Andean country still ranks in the middle of the table of Latin American countries with the highest inflation rate during that same year and remains with significantly lower price increases than the region’s average. Some sectors are more impacted than others, the category with the highest price increases as of September 2023, were food and non-alcoholic beverages, in contrast, the housing and housing services sector presented a slight deflation during the same period.

As of January 2025, New South Wales was home to the highest number of McDonald's locations in Australia, with over 330 stores. In comparison, there were only 16 McDonald's restaurants in Tasmania that same year. In total, almost 1,050 McDonald's stores were in operation nationwide in 2025. Australia: one of McDonald’s leading international markets Famous for its Big Mac, American quick service restaurant (QSR) chain McDonald’s is by far the most valuable fast food brand worldwide, with an estimated brand value of almost 222 billion U.S. dollars. The Australian McDonald’s franchise is one of the largest contributors to McDonald’s total revenue among the company’s internationally operated markets. In 2023, McDonald’s Australia Holdings Pty Ltd generated an annual revenue of around 831 million U.S. dollars. Battle of the burger chains McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s are the most prevalent burger franchises in Australia, with McDonald’s recording the highest brand score index value across Australia’s QSRs in 2024. In terms of locations, McDonald’s boasted the highest number of locations of all burger franchises across Australia in 2025 and had more than double the number of stores compared to Hungry Jack’s. Nonetheless, by a small margin, Australian consumers voted Hungry Jack’s as being better value for money than McDonald’s. Furthermore, the Big Jack was rated higher across all categories than the Big Mac regarding taste, quality of ingredients, and value for money. Popular Australian burger chain Grill’d also keeps its foot in the door of Australia’s burger market due to its extensive variety of burger options and highly-rated dine-in experience. With Wendy’s and Mr. Charlie’s entering Australia’s fast food market, the battle of the country’s burger chains may become even more intense.

Many asset prices, including exchange rates, exhibit periods of stability punctuated by infrequent, substantial, often one-sided adjustments. Statistically, this generates empirical distributions of exchange rate changes that exhibit high peaks, long tails, and skewness. This paper introduces a GARCH model, with a flexible parametric error distribution based on the exponential generalized beta (EGB) family of distributions. Applied to daily US dollar exchange rate data for six major currencies, evidence based on a comparison of actual and predicted higher-order moments and goodness-of-fit tests favours the GARCH-EGB2 model over more conventional GARCH-t and EGARCH-t model alternatives, particularly for exchange rate data characterized by skewness.

A weak spending environment amid economic headwinds casts a shadow over industry performance. Squeezed budgets amid the cost-of-living crisis were a double-edged sword for takeaways and fast-food restaurants over the two years through 2023-24: some consumers cut back on takeaways, while others traded down from full-service restaurants to takeaways and fast food. Inflationary pressures resulted in hikes in labour, energy and sourcing costs, straining profitability. Those with higher disposable incomes have been less impacted, demanding higher quality and healthier options, typically with a higher price tag. Subsiding inflation and growing consumer confidence support spending in 2024-25, though economic uncertainty persists and limits growth. Revenue is projected to drop at a compound annual growth rate of 0.8% over the five years through 2024-25, reflecting ongoing challenges. However, forecast growth of 2.1% in 2024-25 suggests a rebound in the industry as cost-of-living pressures subside. The surge of online food ordering has fuelled revenue growth. While online sales peaked during the pandemic, consumers drawn to convenience have become accustomed to ordering takeaways and fast food online. The development of state-of-the-art online platforms and third-party online ordering platforms like Deliveroo and Uber Eats are becoming the bread and butter for takeaway and fast-food outlets, encouraging new players into the industry. Britons' growing health and sustainability consciousness presents an opportunity for takeaway and fast-food businesses to introduce more expensive organic and meat-free menu items to boost revenue and profit. Britons’ tastes for healthy and sustainable takeaway options will continue to climb. Stricter legislation regarding the adverse effects of consuming junk food will promote product development innovation and healthy fast-food alternatives, driving additional revenue streams. As workers return to the office more permanently, demand for takeaway lunch options will swell. Fast food chains will pump money into aggressive expansion plans to secure market share and streamline costs. Investment in marketing will likely swell as operators turn to social media and online advertising to attract younger consumers and secure long-term revenues. Spending on innovation will persist as major players leverage AI and technology advancements to differentiate themselves from competitors and further demand. Revenue is forecast to climb at a compound annual rate of 2.9% to £26.6 billion over the years through 2029-30.

In January 2025, it was estimated that a Big Mac burger in Argentina would cost an average of 6.95 U.S. dollars. Overall, Argentina ranked with the highest price for a Big Mac in selected Latin American countries. The Big Mac Index in Argentina The Big Mac Index is an indicator that measures an economy's purchasing power. As it is mainly a standardized product, elaborated similarly across many markets, the evolution of its cost can provide insights into variations of real consumption prices in a given country. For instance, the price for a Big Mac in Argentina decreased by almost half from 2018 to 2019. This reflects Argentina's peso devaluation in comparison to the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies in that period, caused by high inflation rates in the country, among other macroeconomic reasons. McDonald's in Latin America Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. is McDonald's franchisee in Latin America. The company's name was inspired by McDonald's famous logo, as 'Arcos Dorados' means 'Golden Arches' in Spanish. It manages the brand's operations in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Arcos Dorados’ revenue averages three billion U.S. dollars per year, making it McDonald's largest franchisee in the world. The company is also publicly listed in the New York Stock Exchange. Based on its market capitalization value, Arcos Dorados' net worth was estimated at around 1.64 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

Globally-known quick service restaurant (QSR) chain McDonald’s spent approximately *** million U.S. dollars on advertising worldwide in 2024, down from ***** million the previous year. Advertising costs are divided into two categories: contributions to advertising cooperatives and production costs for radio and TV advertising. Contributions to advertising cooperatives accounted for *** million U.S. dollars and production costs for ** million in 2024.

This statistic shows the average working time required to buy one Big Mac in selected cities around the world in 2018. In Nairobi, the average worker had to work for about ***** minutes to be able to purchase a Big Mac. The average wages garnered in select countries around the world based on purchasing power can be accessed here. Additional information on the Big Mac Index The Big Mac index is a tongue-in-cheek measure of purchasing power parity (PPP) created by The Economist. The index gained global attention among economists and other analysts of global economic conditions due to its relative degree of accuracy in predicting purchasing power parity among countries. In attempting to include wage differentials rankings that seek to measure how fast one can earn the money required to purchase a Big Mac incorporate average wages. In theory, the result should correlate to the ranking of average world wages adjusted for PPP. The Big Mac index is open to criticism as it is unable to take certain factors that may result in the price of a Big Mac fluctuating between countries. For example, the hospitality industry, including McDonalds, tends to employ large numbers of people on or close to the minimum wage. This is shown by the percentage of workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the minimum wage in the U.S., by industry. As a result differing levels of the minimum wage may lead McDonalds to charge a comparably higher amount for a Big Mac in that country.

McDonald's generated a total revenue of ***** billion U.S. dollars in 2024. In that year, when looking at McDonald’s revenue by region, the country that generated the highest portion of revenue was the United States - accounting for ***** billion U.S. dollars. However, internationally operated markets including, but not exclusive to, Australia, France, Canada, and the UK, contributed the largest sum to the McDonald's total revenue in 2024. How did McDonald’s start? McDonald’s was originally founded in 1940 in San Bernardino, California, United States by Richard, and Maurice McDonald. It was eventually turned into a franchise operation and was bought from the McDonald’s brothers in 1955 by businessman Ray Kroc. In 2024, there were over ** thousand conventionally franchised McDonald's restaurants worldwide, which constituted the majority of its ****** establishments across the globe. The burger behemoth earned most of its revenue from McDonald’s franchised restaurants and received ***** billion U.S. dollars through this mode of operation in 2024. Is McDonald’s the largest quick service chain? McDonald’s had the highest brand value of any quick service restaurant company by a large margin in 2024. Not only that, but it also ranked in the top 100 biggest companies in the world in 2024. The biggest player in the market that year was ********** with a total market capitalization amounting to over *** trillion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the United States accounted for 15.56 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) after adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP). This share was expected to decrease to 14.72 percent by 2029, which is roughly a seventh of the global total. What is PPP? The easiest way to understand purchasing power parity is the Big Mac Index, a measure developed by The Economist. The index tracks the price of the McDonald’s Big Mac burger, sold at each of its thousands of restaurants worldwide. Countries where the Big Mac is most expensive have higher purchasing power, meaning one can buy more for each unit of that currency. To calculate PPP, economists use a group of goods to calculate the ratio of the price of this group in each country. This ratio is then used to convert all countries into a standardized price level, on parity with each other. Why use PPP? A U.S. dollar in the United States does not have the same purchasing power as a dollar in China, even after considering the exchange rate. For this reason, adjusting for PPP gives an idea of what the rest of the world could buy in the United States, if prices were the same as in their home country. However, some economists argue that using PPP for comparisons between countries is inaccurate because it changes the price level differently for each country. Still, because it accounts not only for country-specific effects but also inflation and exchange rate fluctuations, PPP is a very popular metric.

McDonald's was the most valuable fast food brand in the world with an estimated brand value of about *** billion U.S. dollars in 2023. That same year, the brand value of Starbucks amounted to approximately **** billion U.S. dollars. How many McDonald’s restaurants are there worldwide? The fast food behemoth’s global expansion continued in 2023 with the addition of ***** new McDonald’s restaurants worldwide. In that year, ****** stood out as the European region with the most McDonald’s establishments. Meanwhile, in the Asia-Pacific region, ***** led by a large margin and in Latin America and the Caribbean, ****** dominated. Unsurprisingly, ***************** was the region with the highest number of McDonald's chains globally, with over ** thousand locations. What are the leading food and drink service companies worldwide? In 2023, *********, the renowned coffee shop company, had the highest sales of any food and drink services company in the world. Comparatively, ********** secured fourth place, with sales of approximately **** billion U.S. dollars less than Starbucks.