I’m a bit confused by the OP, you know there is a well known Big Mac Index, right? It was started by The Economist as a slightly tongue-in-cheek, but actually somewhat useful, measure for PPP.
There’s an article & map that’s not behind a paywall here, indicating that the answer to your question appears to be Egypt.
I don’t know where you are looking, but this site has a more than 5-fold range, with the most expensive being Switzerland at $13.86, and the cheapest Tunisia at $2.62. The US is is near the middle of the range at $7.00.
A McMeal or its equivalent would be a luxury item in many countries, so you are never going to find one at $0.50. It includes a (relatively) big hunk of beef, fresh lettuce, a special kind of roll, and other items that would not be standard for lunch items in many country. You will find a filling lunch for $0.50 or less, but it will consist of rice or noodles with small bits of chicken or fish.
The Economist index came from the observation that McDonalds sources local products wherever possible and is a stickler for consistency - they have a dedicated department to test assorted suppliers to ensure the food tastes the same everywhere. Thus, the same food components, locally sourced, in most countries in the world - that’s a pretty good way to compare actual buying power versus nominal exchange rate to truly evaluate cost of living. If based on the published exchange rate a Big Mac costs twice as much in Baluchistan or Tashkent, then the cost of living is higher than the exchange rate would indicate.
Except in India, where they don’t have all-beef patties - it’s all chicken. Fun fact, just around the corner from the Golden Temple in Amritsar is the only Vegetarian McDonalds in the world. And in many places in the Muslim world, they use “beef bacon”. Tastes pretty good.
The issue with cost of living differences is that some items are far more impacted than others.
Food costs don’t seem Impacted that much by country. Probably because food is bought and sold on the international marketplace so its price is probably fairly universal unless subsidized.
However medical costs can have gigantic differences between nations (especially the us vs developing nations). Real estate too. Anything labor intensive or whose price is determined by the local economy.
But other things like cars or food probably aren’t affected as much. I’d assume an equal meal or automobile is roughly the same price no matter where you buy them after excluding taxes.
Does it accurately reflect the cost of living though? My understanding is that in some countries things like McDonalds are somewhat different from the standard diet and in some ways considered a foreign luxury. It’s a bit like those lists of “most expensive places to live” that rate places like the Sudan or something as really expensive. But what they really mean is that it’s really expensive for some dude from the United States or England to go live there in an expat community that imports all the stuff they’re used to at home. The cost of living for a local would be substantially lower if you took into account the actual food staples and the like.
Is this really the case? I worked in the US for a few years and was an occasional visitor to McD’s. I don’t like the Big Mac so can’t comment on that, but other stuff I found to be pretty consistent.
Really? I ask because I visited Japan in 1987 (Team Spirit 87; I still have the keychain) and ran across a McDonald’s in a mall. After weeks of ship food the Quarter Pounder siren call was too much.
The burger and Coke tasted exactly the same, but there was corn instead of fries.
According to Expatistan Tunisia has the lowest fast food prices in the world. However McDonalds is listed as coming soon there. The american fast food restarants there are Papa Johns, Fatburger, KFC, and Pizza Hut.
I love me a big Mac and have eaten them across the world and to be honest, they seem pretty consistent to me. I know they certainly try to keep them much the same.
Some who care more about such things might be able to pinpoint a difference and that might be an issue for them but “nothing like” doesn’t ring true to me YMMV (your Mac may vary)
Relative pricing varies between different types of goods. In countries where labor is cheap, food items may still be expensive because agriculture there is less mechanized. Gasoline, prerequisite for much, will be cheaper than U.S. pricing only in major petroleum-producing countries, I think.
The MacDonalds Index seems rather silly to me. You can buy a largish meal from a fast-food shop in Thailand for less than $1, but it won’t be Western food or McDonalds.
If a Big Mac is a higher end luxury for the average wage-earner, then that certainly is a reflection of the cost of living issues. Sorry, Big Mac index was intended to be more a gauge of the accuracy of currency exchange rates. It was not intended that it should reflect “equal to one hour’s wage” (Or, two hours in Arkansas). More likely, it was to reflect whether the same basket of goods cost the same at published exchange rates - in this case, very common food goods; same two all-beef patties, cheese, pickles, lettuce, onion and sesame seed bun. And …special sauce ingredients.
Except I’m not sure how much of the price of a hamburger represents the cost of the ingredients, but my guess is that the bulk of the price represents premises costs, labour costs, franchise/licensing costs and the owner’s profit margin.
Plus, as others have pointed out, the issue in many places is not so much that a Big Mac is a luxury purchase, as that it’s an exotic or novelty purchase - you’re buying a “typical American experience” more than you’re buying a meal. And therefore novelty/exotic/specialty pricing will apply.
I’ve also had Big Macs in much of the world: various parts of western Europe, South Africa, Thailand, China, Canada, Mexico… they’re pretty consistent.
China was like this. A box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes for $12, or only $8 if I wanted the Thailand version. Frozen Butterball brand turkey for $70. My rent was $3400 per month for a duplex, because there are nearly no single-family homes, and even my duplex neighborhood was filled with extremely wealthy Chinese. I had a small skirt of grass that was large enough for a patio set and my two grills.
Oh, I was given a cost of living allowance for living in China. It was about $1500 to $1800 per month, based on a common basket of goods that included food and consumer goods. Consumer goods are expensive as heck in China, at least, if you want good commercial brands. They’re all imported, you see, even the ones made in China.
I wouldn’t want to live in China at my equivalent economic class.