Turkey’s cost of living continues to rise sharply, with the latest Big Mac Index revealing that a McDonald’s Big Mac now costs $5.59 in Turkey — just 42 cents less than in the United States — despite stark differences in income levels and economic stability.
According to the July 2025 edition of the Big Mac Index, published annually by British weekly The Economist, the Turkish lira is 26 percent overvalued against the US dollar when adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) based on gross domestic product (GDP) per person. This puts Turkey among the top 10 countries with the most overvalued currencies in the world, ahead of Denmark, Poland and Mexico.
The price of a Big Mac in Turkey has nearly tripled since 2022, when it stood at $1.86. The 2025 price of $5.59 represents a 200 percent increase in dollar terms, far outpacing the official inflation figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). According to TurkStat, core inflation increased by 35.64 percent over the past year, with food and services rising by 21.09 and 50.34 percent, respectively.
The Big Mac Index, while not an official economic measure, is widely used by economists and financial analysts to estimate how far exchange rates deviate from what is considered fair value. It compares the price of a standardized product — the Big Mac — across countries, offering a light-hearted yet telling reflection of price levels and currency misalignment.
The data indicate how Turkey’s cost of living in dollar terms has approached that of high-income economies. The US price for a Big Mac is $6.01, while the same burger costs less in countries with income levels higher than Turkey, including Mexico at $5.28, South Korea at $3.98, China at $3.55, Japan at $3.23 and Vietnam at $2.91.
While nominal prices have surged, Turkish wages have not kept pace. According to economists, the real purchasing power of Turkish consumers has deteriorated, with many households facing hardship amid persistently high inflation, lira volatility and stagnant income growth.
The Turkish lira has lost more than 130 percent of its value against the dollar since mid-2022, with the exchange rate rising from approximately 17.5 to over 40 lira per dollar in three years. Yet in GDP-adjusted terms, the Big Mac Index now suggests the lira is overvalued, meaning consumer prices are outpacing what would be expected given the country’s average income levels.
In contrast, countries with lower Big Mac prices and higher purchasing power — such as Japan, South Korea and China — register significantly undervalued currencies in the index. For example, the Japanese yen is considered 41.2 percent undervalued, while Vietnam’s dong is 33 percent undervalued.
Turkey’s high ranking in the 2025 index shows a widening disconnect between nominal price levels and local living standards, adding to concerns over economic management and statistical credibility under the current administration. Critics have long accused the government of underreporting inflation and manipulating official data to downplay the severity of the country’s cost of living crisis.
The Big Mac Index was created in 1986 by The Economist as an informal measure of currency valuation based on the theory of purchasing power parity. Though not intended as a precise economic indicator, it has gained global recognition as a benchmark for comparing the cost of living and exchange rate misalignments across countries.