Fast food only has two prerequisites: speed and edibility. But usually, there’s also an expectation expense-wise—it’s cheap. A meal at a local steakhouse is not in the “change scrounged from a car cupholder” budget range. And when it comes to inexpensiveness, McDonald’s revolutionized the game with their invention of the “Dollar Menu” in 2002.
But, naturally, prices and participation may vary. For example, if you want a McLobster, you’d have to head to New England sometime in the summertime. If you want spaghetti and blankets, you can go to Mitch Hedberg’s McDonald’s. And if you want to pay over 20 bucks for a Big Mac, fries, and a drink, you go to Norway.
That’s right, according to the New York Daily News, Norway has the highest average McDonald’s meal price in the world, with an average transaction of $23 USD equivalent. However, this isn’t due to old Ronald McDonald having some sort of Norwegian bias, it just follows the trend; Norway happens to have one of the highest overall costs of living in the world.
When you take off the add-ons and update the data by a year, Norway becomes a little bit more affordable, relatively speaking. According to The Economist’s Big Mac Index, these are the five most expensive countries to procure a Big Mac:
Venezuela ($7.92)
Norway ($7.06)
Switzerland ($6.56)
Brazil ($4.94)
Australia ($4.68)
And this sixth most expensive on the Big Mac index? The United States. Twelve other countries have the homeland of McDonald’s beat. If you’re looking to save a few bucks by scooping up the world’s cheapest Big Mac, you’re going to have to trek 7,700+ miles from the store’s first location in Illinois all the way to Hong Kong ($2.13).
Still hungry for some more McDonald’s trivia?
