

The Happy Meal began life as a one-off innovation at a Guatemalan McDonald’s in 1979, but was soon homogenized and offered to young gluttons around the world. The World’s Cheapest Happy Meal is in Pakistan We’ve also used World Bank national income figures to show how these prices measure up relative to local wages. Following our world beer price index, Expensivity has now mapped the price of key McDonald’s meals and items around the world. The cost of McDonald’s varies across the 118 countries where Ronald lays his hat. And if the menu diversified – Masala Scrambled Egg in India Japan’s savoury, potato-based Purple McShake – the commitment to consistent quality prevailed.īut the prices are not so consistent. Soon, the golden arches spread around the world. When travelling salesman Ray Kroc discovered the brothers’ ‘Speedee Service System’ six years later, he decided to sell McDonald’s identical burgers in 1,000 locations around the US. And by focusing on a limited menu, the brothers ensured the hamburger and its sides tasted exactly the same every time. The McDonald’s affordable hunger-buster brought the customers in. That was the price of Dick and Maurice McDonald’s centerpiece hamburger when they opened a stand selling just nine menu items, back in 1948. In Denmark, taxes are included in list prices, unlike in the U.S.Fifteen cents. While the cost of a Big Mac in Denmark has not massively altered as a result of the minimum wage hike, the country still has a very high cost of living compared to the U.S., as well as higher tax bracketsĪs noted by Numbero, the price of an average McMeal in the Danish cities of Aalborg, Copenhagen and Arhus comes to around $12 to $13.

That 27 cents is the price of dignity," he added.


"Big Mac prices vary by outlet, but my spot pricing suggested that one might cost about 27 cents more on average in Denmark than in the United States. In a 2020 opinion piece for The New York Times, Nicholas Kristof noted how a Big Mac "flipped by $22-an-hour workers isn't even that much more expensive" than an American one. While not a true measure of the cost, the Big Mac Index does seem to fairly accurately show the price of a Big Mac.
