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Overvalued means the local currency buys more than the market rate implies it should. Rates are editable defaults (approx. early 2026) — swap in a live rate for precision.
Most Big Mac tools just project the US price onto other countries. The one question people actually ask — "is my currency overvalued or undervalued?" — needs the market exchange rate too, and almost no calculator lets you enter it. This one does: pick a country to load the January 2026 figures, or type any two prices and a rate to get the implied PPP rate and the valuation gap. Below it sits the full country table, the GDP-adjusted caveat, and why a burger is a rougher yardstick than it looks.
The short answer
The Big Mac Index world map
Every country with January 2026 data, shaded by how over- or undervalued its currency looks against the US dollar. Warm shades mean a burger costs more than in the US (the currency looks strong); cool shades mean it is cheaper (the currency looks weak). Hover or tap a country for its dollar price and valuation.
Singapore and Hong Kong appear in the table above but are too small to render on this map. Source: The Economist Big Mac Index, January 2026.
Big Mac Index 2026 — full country table
Prices in US dollars at market exchange rates, January 2026. The valuation column is the raw index: local price in dollars divided by the US price, minus one. Positive = currency overvalued vs the dollar; negative = undervalued.
| Country | Big Mac (USD) | Valuation vs USD |
|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | $7.99 | +38.0% |
| Argentina | $6.95 | +20.1% |
| Uruguay | $6.91 | +19.3% |
| Norway | $6.67 | +15.3% |
| Costa Rica | $5.90 | +1.9% |
| United States | $5.79 | 0.0% (base) |
| United Kingdom | $5.73 | −1.1% |
| Sweden | $5.67 | −2.1% |
| Denmark | $5.49 | −5.2% |
| Canada | $5.43 | −6.2% |
| Turkey | $5.32 | −8.2% |
| Poland | $5.21 | −10.0% |
| Colombia | $5.17 | −10.6% |
| Singapore | $5.17 | −10.7% |
| Saudi Arabia | $5.07 | −12.5% |
| United Arab Emirates | $4.90 | −15.4% |
| Australia | $4.87 | −15.9% |
| New Zealand | $4.77 | −17.6% |
| Israel | $4.71 | −18.6% |
| Mexico | $4.60 | −20.5% |
| Chile | $4.55 | −21.5% |
| Peru | $4.53 | −21.8% |
| Brazil | $4.03 | −30.5% |
| Thailand | $4.01 | −30.8% |
| South Korea | $3.84 | −33.6% |
| Pakistan | $3.77 | −35.0% |
| Hungary | $3.65 | −37.0% |
| China | $3.52 | −39.2% |
| Romania | $3.43 | −40.8% |
| Japan | $3.11 | −46.3% |
| Hong Kong | $3.08 | −46.8% |
| Vietnam | $3.03 | −47.7% |
| Malaysia | $3.00 | −48.1% |
| Philippines | $2.89 | −50.1% |
| Ukraine | $2.86 | −50.7% |
| South Africa | $2.78 | −52.0% |
| Egypt | $2.69 | −53.6% |
| India | $2.62 | −54.8% |
| Indonesia | $2.54 | −56.2% |
| Taiwan | $2.38 | −58.8% |
Source: The Economist Big Mac Index, January 2026 dataset (via World Population Review / Economist GitHub), US base price $5.79. Valuation = local dollar price ÷ $5.79 − 1. Global average Big Mac price: ~$4.43.
Why the GDP-adjusted version matters
The raw index has a built-in bias: burgers are simply cheaper to make and sell where labour and rent are cheaper, so low-income countries look chronically "undervalued" even when their exchange rates are broadly fair. To correct for this, The Economist plots Big Mac prices against GDP per person and measures each currency against that trend line instead of against the US directly.
The adjustment narrows the gaps sharply. On the raw index Japan's yen looks roughly 46% undervalued; on the GDP-adjusted version the gap shrinks because Japan is a rich country where you'd expect burgers to cost more. The practical takeaway: use the raw index to compare countries at similar income levels, and lean on the GDP-adjusted version when comparing rich and poor economies. Neither is a trading signal — both are conversation starters about where real exchange rates sit.
Burger inflation vs CPI
Because it is measured in one everyday product, the Big Mac also works as a homemade inflation gauge — and it has outrun official inflation in the US. The average US Big Mac climbed from about $2.07 in 2000 to $5.79 in 2026, a rise of roughly 180%, well ahead of the roughly 98% increase in the US Consumer Price Index over a comparable window. Fast food is a beef-, labour- and rent-heavy basket, so it captures wage and commodity pressure that the broad CPI dilutes.
| Year | Global avg Big Mac | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $2.07 | — |
| 2008 | $3.44 | +21.1% |
| 2015 | $3.48 | −7.9% |
| 2020 | $3.58 | +2.9% |
| 2023 | $4.13 | +9.6% |
| 2024 | $4.38 | +6.1% |
| 2025 | $4.43 | +1.1% |
Global average Big Mac price by year (World Population Review historical series). The 2008 spike and 2023 jump line up with commodity and post-pandemic inflation. For the official measure, see our CPI release calendar.
What the Big Mac Index gets wrong
- It's not just currency. A burger's price reflects local wages, rent, taxes, competition and import duties — not only exchange rates. That is why the GDP-adjusted version exists.
- Coverage gaps. McDonald's isn't everywhere — most of Africa is missing, which is why a parallel "KFC Index" was created for that region.
- The product varies. India's "Big Mac" is a chicken Maharaja Mac (no beef), and portion sizes and recipes differ by country.
- Prices can be political. Argentina was long suspected of suppressing its Big Mac price to flatter official inflation figures.
Used with those caveats, the index is a genuinely useful sanity check on whether a currency looks stretched — a starting point for the deeper forex work our models do, not a substitute for it.
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The calculator computes the raw Big Mac Index between any two currencies. It converts the local Big Mac price to dollars (local price ÷ market rate), derives the implied PPP exchange rate (local price ÷ US price), and reports the over/undervaluation as (implied rate ÷ market rate) − 1 — mathematically identical to (local dollar price ÷ US price) − 1. "Burgers per $50" divides $50 by the dollar price to show real purchasing power. Country presets load the January 2026 Economist dataset (US base $5.79); the market rates in each preset are editable approximations for early 2026, so enter a live rate for precise valuations. All computation runs in your browser. Country prices and the historical global-average series are from The Economist's Big Mac Index as compiled by World Population Review; the underlying data and GDP-adjusted methodology are published by The Economist.
Sources: The Economist — Big Mac Index, The Economist Big Mac data (GitHub), World Population Review — Big Mac Index by Country 2026, Big Mac Index (Wikipedia). Educational only, not investment advice — see our disclaimer.