The Big Mac Index data is sourced from The Economist and maintained on GitHub.
Data is provided under The Economist's terms. For commercial use, please refer to the original source.
Insights, analysis, and stories from the world of Big Mac economics.
An independent walk-through of all 54 countries in the January 2026 Big Mac Index — region by region, with the cheapest and priciest burgers, the implied valuations, and the gaps I'm still trying to close.
What does a Big Mac actually cost in France right now? I pulled mcdonalds.fr menu data, scanned the Le Parisien Big Mac Index city-by-city survey, and ran the numbers against the new €12.02/hr SMIC and 10% restaurant VAT. Plus why one country can hide a 55% intra-country price spread.
What does a Big Mac actually cost in Germany right now? I pulled mcdonalds.de menu data, scanned receipt screenshots from German news outlets, and ran the numbers against the new 7% restaurant VAT and €13.90/hr minimum wage. Plus why Germany is the eurozone's hidden Big Mac anchor.
Bolivia is the only democratic country to lose all its McDonald's restaurants and never get them back. The chain ran eight stores from 1997 to 2002, then quietly left — not because of a ban, but because Bolivians didn't buy enough burgers. Here's what happened.
There's exactly one McDonald's in Cuba and you cannot eat there. It's inside the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, restricted to military personnel since 1986. Here's the embargo backstory, the one-restaurant exception, and what Havana eats instead.
All three Icelandic McDonald's closed on October 31, 2009 after the 2008 banking crisis doubled import costs. The last burger sold still sits, mold-free, in a glass case in Þykkvabær. Here's what happened — and what replaced it.
Iran briefly had McDonald's outlets before the 1979 revolution, and one attempted return in 1994 was burned down within days. Here's why US sanctions and politics keep the chain out, and what locals eat instead — including Mash Donald's.
McDonald's opened in Moscow in 1990 and exited in 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine. Here's what happened to the 850+ stores, what replaced them, and why the Big Mac Index lost one of its most-watched data points.
An honest look at why the Big Mac Index — and purchasing power parity more broadly — does not measure what most readers think it measures. Seven structural limits, with specific 2026 country examples.