The Big Mac Index for 2015 was published on January 22nd, 2015. Based on the previous years, The Economist will probably publish another version in July 2015. If are looking to get the entire dataset going back to 1986, click here to download the complete spreadsheet. Big Mac Index information is from the Economist, click here for the Kindle version of the Economist.
Big Mac Index - Published January 22nd, 2015
The Big Mac Index vs. The Consumer Price Index. Since 1986, the price of a Big Mac has increased 171% from $1.60 to $4.33 today. During this same time period, the consumer price index has increased at a much lower rate of 109%.In 1986, $1 would have purchased over half of a Big Mac.
The 'Big Mac Index' is a playful guide to global exchange rates that the Economist puts out every January using data from the previous year. It is designed to measure purchasing power parity (PPP) between nations, using the price of a McDonald's Big Mac as the benchmark. It is a flawed method. It is light-hearted. The Big Mac Index Explained. Twice a year The Economist publishes the Big Mac index.It is a fun guide to the world's currencies that attempts to adjust them all to an equitable level through the great equalizer known as the Big Mac. The Big Mac Index is published by The Economist as an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and provides a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. It 'seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible.' The index, created in 1986, takes its name from the Big Mac, a hamburger. Think about the effort needed to calculate the Big Mac Index without data analytics technologies. Economists would need to: 1. Find the prices of Big Macs in 118 countries (unfortunately, no easy way to do this yet!) 2. Manually calculate each country's exchange rate in comparison to a base currency. Repeat step 2 for each base currency. The Economist Big Mac Index.
Where To Download Big Mac Index File
| Country | Local Price | Dollar Exchange | Dollar Price | Dollar PPP | Implied Dollar Valuation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 28 | 8.61 | 3.25 | 5.85 | -32.11 |
| Australia | 5.3 | 1.23 | 4.32 | 1.11 | -9.84 |
| Brazil | 13.5 | 2.59 | 5.21 | 2.82 | 8.70 |
| Britain | 2.89 | 0.66 | 4.37 | 0.60 | -8.81 |
| Canada | 5.7 | 1.23 | 4.64 | 1.19 | -3.14 |
| Chile | 2100 | 627.49 | 3.35 | 438.41 | -30.13 |
| China | 17.2 | 6.21 | 2.77 | 3.59 | -42.19 |
| Colombia | 7900 | 2364.98 | 3.34 | 1649.27 | -30.26 |
| Costa Rica | 2150 | 536.09 | 4.01 | 448.85 | -16.27 |
| Czech Republic | 70.45 | 24.13 | 2.92 | 14.71 | -39.06 |
| Denmark | 34.5 | 6.42 | 5.38 | 7.20 | 12.23 |
| Egypt | 16.93 | 7.35 | 2.30 | 3.53 | -51.91 |
| Euro area | 3.68 | 0.86 | 4.26 | 0.77 | -10.98 |
| Hong Kong | 18.8 | 7.75 | 2.43 | 3.92 | -49.37 |
| Hungary | 860 | 271.39 | 3.17 | 179.54 | -33.84 |
| India | 116.25 | 61.62 | 1.89 | 24.27 | -60.61 |
| Indonesia | 27939 | 12480.00 | 2.24 | 5832.78 | -53.26 |
| Israel | 17.5 | 3.93 | 4.45 | 3.65 | -7.14 |
| Japan | 370 | 117.77 | 3.14 | 77.24 | -34.41 |
| Malaysia | 7.63 | 3.62 | 2.11 | 1.59 | -55.94 |
| Mexico | 49 | 14.63 | 3.35 | 10.23 | -30.07 |
| New Zealand | 5.9 | 1.31 | 4.49 | 1.23 | -6.21 |
| Norway | 48 | 7.62 | 6.30 | 10.02 | 31.46 |
| Pakistan | 300 | 100.74 | 2.98 | 62.63 | -37.83 |
| Peru | 10 | 3.01 | 3.32 | 2.09 | -30.60 |
| Philippines | 163 | 44.41 | 3.67 | 34.03 | -23.37 |
| Poland | 9.2 | 3.71 | 2.48 | 1.92 | -48.18 |
| Russia | 89 | 65.23 | 1.36 | 18.58 | -71.51 |
| Saudi Arabia | 11 | 3.76 | 2.93 | 2.30 | -38.87 |
| Singapore | 4.7 | 1.33 | 3.53 | 0.98 | -26.40 |
| South Africa | 25.5 | 11.48 | 2.22 | 5.32 | -53.62 |
| South Korea | 4100 | 1083.30 | 3.78 | 855.95 | -20.99 |
| Sri Lanka | 350 | 131.88 | 2.65 | 73.07 | -44.59 |
| Sweden | 40.7 | 8.19 | 4.97 | 8.50 | 3.73 |
| Switzerland | 6.5 | 0.86 | 7.54 | 1.36 | 57.49 |
| Taiwan | 79 | 31.49 | 2.51 | 16.49 | -47.63 |
| Thailand | 99 | 32.61 | 3.04 | 20.67 | -36.61 |
| Turkey | 9.25 | 2.33 | 3.96 | 1.93 | -17.24 |
| UAE | 13 | 3.67 | 3.54 | 2.71 | -26.11 |
| Ukraine | 19 | 15.82 | 1.20 | 3.97 | -74.93 |
| United States | 4.79 | 1.00 | 4.79 | 1.00 | 0.00 |
| Uruguay | 113 | 24.43 | 4.63 | 23.59 | -3.42 |
| Venezuela | 132 | 52.10 | 2.53 | 27.56 | -47.11 |
| Vietnam | 60000 | 21380.00 | 2.81 | 12526.10 | -41.41 |
| Austria | 3.39 | 0.86 | 3.93 | 0.71 | -18.00 |
| Belgium | 3.7 | 0.86 | 4.29 | 0.77 | -10.50 |
| Estonia | 2.9 | 0.86 | 3.36 | 0.61 | -29.85 |
| Finland | 4.1 | 0.86 | 4.75 | 0.86 | -0.83 |
| France | 3.9 | 0.86 | 4.52 | 0.81 | -5.66 |
| Germany | 3.67 | 0.86 | 4.25 | 0.77 | -11.23 |
| Greece | 3.05 | 0.86 | 3.53 | 0.64 | -26.22 |
| Ireland | 3.49 | 0.86 | 4.04 | 0.73 | -15.58 |
| Italy | 3.85 | 0.86 | 4.46 | 0.80 | -6.87 |
| Netherlands | 3.45 | 0.86 | 4.00 | 0.72 | -16.55 |
| Portugal | 3 | 0.86 | 3.48 | 0.63 | -27.43 |
| Spain | 3.65 | 0.86 | 4.23 | 0.76 | -11.71 |