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Insights, analysis, and stories from the world of Big Mac economics.
A Big Mac in Australia costs A$8.50 ($5.95) in the July 2026 index — just 4.3% cheaper than the US, down from 15.9% eighteen months ago. App prices, the history, and what it costs in minutes of work.
A Big Mac in Egypt costs E£145 ($2.87) in the July 2026 index — Egypt's highest dollar price in 42 surveys since 2003. A month later the delivery menu said E£170. Here's what both numbers mean.
45,356 restaurants, 95% franchised, and the annual report says franchisees keep control of pricing. So who decides what a Big Mac costs in Chicago, Shanghai or Dijon — and what does that do to an index built on those prices?
Both 2025 releases of The Economist's Big Mac Index — January and July, all 54 markets, local and dollar prices in one copyable table — plus a split of what moved since: the menu or the currency.
Ukraine's Big Mac went from $2.43 to $3.34 across four and a half years of full-scale war. On the index that is a 5-point move — twelfth most stable of 54 markets. The war left one trace, and it isn't a price.
My app is cheaper in low-income markets, so I checked the receipts: China outsold the US 1.59x at half price, Saudi refunds hit 0%, the Nordics barely sold.
We published a claim that McDonald's operated in Tabriz around 1971. It had no source, and one article we cited never said it. A reader with family in Iran stopped it. Here is the whole chain, including our link in it.
Exchange rates are not purchasing power. I checked a paid product across 175 markets against PPP: a 4.25x fairness gap, and China outselling the US 1.59x.
Denmark's Big Mac is DKK 46 / $7.0373 in the July 2026 index — 0.592% below the euro-area aggregate, the closest of all 53 non-euro countries. A pegged krone on a frozen menu board.
Britain's Big Mac is £5.49 ($7.40) in the July 2026 edition — dearer than Denmark's, on income 28% lower. That mismatch opens a 14-point gap between the raw and adjusted index.
CHF 7.30 is $9.04 in the July 2026 edition, 45.4% above the US. But the menu has moved four times in eleven editions, and sat at CHF 6.50 from 2008 to 2022. The franc did the climbing.
Apple auto-converts one US price into 175 stores. Mine landed at 0.40 Big Macs in Turkey and 1.70 in Vietnam — a 4.25x gap I never chose. Here is what I do instead.
A reader sent a till receipt from Saint-Martin-Boulogne: Big Mac €6.40. That is 3.4% above The Economist's euro-area figure — from a commune of 11,000 in France's second-poorest department.
The dollar bought 7% more baht in July than in January — but 3% fewer yuan. Asia split down the middle in the July 2026 Big Mac Index, and it matters for where you travel.
In 21 of 54 countries the Big Mac price did not move at all this edition. That is not unusual — it is the normal state of menu prices, and the exception tells you where inflation is real.
Colombia's Big Mac went from $3.29 to $8.00 in four and a half years — a 144% rise. The peso is back where it was in 2019. Both facts are true, and together they explain the climb.
The Economist's July 2026 Big Mac Index is out. In 21 of 54 countries the burger cost exactly the same in local money — yet dollar prices moved up to 29%. Here is what actually changed.
How one reader's price report exposed the gap between a semi-annual index and a live menu board — and what we changed. Plus: how to send us a correction.
Portugal's Big Mac at €4.90 (USD 5.68) may be Western Europe's cheapest. 213 stores, €920 RMMG, 13% IVA, and 2024-2025 tourism inflation on the Lisbon menu board.
Greece's Big Mac costs about €5.10 (USD 5.92), the cheap-end of the eurozone. 33 stores, €920 minimum wage, 13% ΦΠΑ, Premier Capital Hellas math for 2026.
Ireland's Big Mac is €5.20 (USD 6.03), with a €14.15/hr minimum wage and a July 2026 VAT cut from 13.5% to 9% on hospitality food — the currency-adjacent case.
Austria's Big Mac is €5.50 (USD 6.38), with NO statutory minimum wage — collective Kollektivvertrag ~€11/hr, 10% MwSt on food, and a Vienna-vs-Salzburg spread.
Belgium's Big Mac lands at €5.50 (USD 6.38), with a €2,189.81 RMMMG floor, a 12% dine-in TVA, and a March 2026 takeaway VAT shock reshaping the receipt.
Bulgaria adopted the euro on Jan 1, 2026. A Big Mac in Sofia now prints 10.70 лв / €5.47, dual-priced through August. Minimum wage €3.74/hr — 87 min per burger.
Iraq has no McDonald's — not in Baghdad, not in Erbil. MaDonal in Sulaymaniyah and Burger King in Erbil are the closest shadow proxies. Corporate never granted a franchise.
Libya has oil wealth, 758 fast-food shops and a fake McDonald's the police shut down in 2021 — but no real one. Gaddafi, the war, the dinar split.
Damascus had KFC from 2006 until war shut it in 2013. McDonald's never opened at all — Caesar Act sanctions, 15 years of war, and now the HTS transition.
McDonald's exited Kazakhstan in early 2023 after Russian beef supply collapsed. The 24 stores rebranded to I'm. Here's the full story and what the I'm Double Big Burger says about prices in Almaty in 2026.
Uzbekistan has no McDonald's in 2026 despite an 8-year run of announcements. Reach Impex's trademark, the Burger King precedent, and what Tashkent actually pays for a burger.
McDonald's left Belarus in 2022 after the Ukraine war. The 25 stores rebranded to Mak.by in 2023, then the state seized the chain in 2024. Here's the full story.
Mongolia has no McDonald's not from sanctions or politics — KFC arrived first in 2013, Burger King followed in 2015, and Ulaanbaatar's local burger scene crowded out the gap.
All seven McDonald's in Macedonia closed overnight on May 14, 2013 after the corporate franchise was terminated. Thirteen years later, the chain hasn't returned.
Turkmenistan has never had a McDonald's. The Türkmenbaşy cult, Rukhnama, Permanent Neutrality and a dual-rate manat keep every Western brand out of Ashgabat.
Netherlands' Big Mac is €6.10 (USD 7.08), but the menu combo €13.30 tops the eurozone. €14.71/hr wage floor and Amsterdam rent on the receipt.
Spain's Big Mac costs €5.40 (USD 6.26), the cheapest Eurozone heavyweight. SMI €1,221, 10% IVA, coastal-tourism premium, and a Madrid-vs-Sevilla spread.
Five Eurozone Big Mac deep-dives (DEU/FRA/ITA/ESP/NLD) show The Economist's single EUZ data point hides a 25%+ intra-currency spread. Bruegel thesis on the menu board.
Bhutan has never had a McDonald's — not by sanctions or war, but by design. GNH state policy, a $100/day tourism fee, and a country that protects its own kitchen.
North Korea has never had a McDonald's — not under Kim Il-sung, not under Trump-Kim. The Juche doctrine, the Furlanis pizza story, the data black hole.
Yemen has KFC in Sanaa and a Houthi boycott of US brands — but McDonald's has never opened a store. The war, the split currency, the Big Mac data gap.
A Big Mac in Rome costs €6.20 ordered in McDonald's own app and €7.70 on Glovo — a 24% delivery premium. Italy isn't in The Economist's index at all. Here's what the observed prices say, city by city.
The Economist's January 2026 Big Mac Index release — walk-through of 52 countries, region by region. Refreshed July 17, 2026 against the actual Jan 2026 CSV (an earlier draft was inadvertently running on Jan 2025 numbers).
France's Big Mac costs €6.35 (USD 7.31), but intra-country spread hits 55% — Vincennes €4.45 to Dijon €6.90. One country hides more PPP variation than two.
Germany's Big Mac costs €6.30 (USD 7.31), with 16% franchise spread across cities. Why Germany is the EUZ's hidden Big Mac anchor, plus VAT and SMIC math.
Bolivia is the only democratic country to lose all McDonald's and never get them back — eight stores 1997-2002. Not a ban; Bolivians didn't buy enough burgers.
One McDonald's exists in Cuba — inside Guantánamo Bay US Naval Base, restricted since 1986. Embargo backstory, the one exception, and what Havana eats instead.
All three Icelandic McDonald's closed October 31, 2009 after the 2008 crisis doubled import costs. The last burger still sits mold-free in a Þykkvabær glass case.
Corrected August 2026: we found no evidence McDonald's ever traded in Iran. A 1994 Tehran attempt was destroyed within days. Why sanctions keep the chain out — and what Mash Donald's offers.
McDonald's opened in Moscow 1990 and exited in 2022 after Ukraine. What happened to 850+ stores, what replaced them, and why the Big Mac Index lost a key data point.
Why the Big Mac Index — and PPP broadly — does not measure what most readers think. Seven structural limits with specific 2026 country examples.
Japan's Big Mac is ¥500 — $3.08, or 50% below the US. Two forces did that, and only one of them is the weak yen. What it means, and who it is actually cheap for.