McDonald's Menu Prices by Country

How big is McDonald's, and where did it start?

McDonald's began in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald ran it as a barbecue drive-in. In 1948 they rebuilt it around a fast, assembly-line kitchen they called the "Speedee Service System", an idea that shaped fast food ever since.

Today it is one of the biggest restaurant chains on earth. At the end of 2025, the system had 45,356 restaurants in more than 100 countries. Around 95% of them are run by franchisees, not by McDonald's itself. That matters for prices, as we explain below.

We cover McDonald's in 14 of our 15 countries. This guide explains how the menu works around the world and how to read it. For prices in a specific country, use the country pages linked further down.

When did McDonald's arrive in each country?

McDonald's spread country by country over more than half a century. These are the years it first opened in the countries we cover:

France's first restaurant opened on 30 June 1972, so the date is exact there. Elsewhere we give the year only.

Where did the Big Mac come from?

The Big Mac is McDonald's best-known burger, and it wasn't invented at headquarters. It came from a franchisee named Jim Delligatti, who began serving it at his restaurant in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in April 1967. It cost 45 cents.

It sold so well that by 1968 it was on the menu of every McDonald's in the United States. By 1969 it made up 19% of the company's sales. That's why the Big Mac shows up on almost every country list we hold. It appears on the list for 13 of our 14 McDonald's countries.

Why do McDonald's prices differ so much between restaurants?

Because roughly 95% of restaurants are franchised, the person running your local branch sets many of their own prices. Rent, wages, taxes and local competition all differ. Two branches in the same country can charge different amounts for the same Big Mac.

It also explains why prices differ between the counter and delivery apps. Delivery platforms often carry higher menu prices than the restaurant. If you order a lot of McDonald's for delivery, our delivery markup calculator shows the true extra cost.

How do you read a McDonald's menu in another country?

Once you learn a few words, McDonald's menus in Europe and Latin America are easy to read. The key difference is between the item alone and the full meal with fries and a drink.

In the United States, the full meal is simply called a meal, as in the Big Mac Meal.

The Quarter Pounder changes its name, too. In Spain and Peru it becomes the Cuarto de Libra, which means the same thing.

What does McDonald's sell that you won't find everywhere?

The core menu is similar worldwide, but every country adds its own items. On our lists you'll find:

• Thailand: Kaprao Chicken Rice, a Thai-style rice dish, alongside a Samurai Pork Burger and McFried Chicken sold by the piece.
• Italy: fresh-squeezed orange juice (spremuta) and a croissant filled with cocoa and hazelnut.
• United Kingdom: Cornetto McFlurries and Mozzarella Dippers.
• United Kingdom and Ireland: the Big Arch, with a Double Big Tasty in Ireland.
• Ireland: hash browns, pancakes with syrup and a full McCafé coffee range, including a latte, cappuccino and americano.
• Colombia: a tinto, the small black coffee that Colombia drinks all day, and a Cajota Familiar family box for four.
• Peru: a family meal of eight pieces, three portions of fries and three soft drinks.
• Spain: McPollo and Chicken McBites.
• United States: an Egg McMuffin and a Sausage Burrito at breakfast.

These local items are a good reason to look at a country's list before you travel.

Which McDonald's menus can you browse here?

Choose a country to see its menu, prices and a short guide:

• Europe: United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands
• Americas: United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Peru
• Asia-Pacific: Thailand, Australia

Curious how it compares with its main rivals? See Burger King and KFC. You can also read our full country guides for the UK, the US and Australia.

Can you compare Big Mac prices country by country?

You'll see Big Mac "index" tables all over the internet. They only work if every price is a real price.

Our own sources tell us why. For four countries (France, Germany, Mexico and the Netherlands), the menu-price website we first used labelled its McDonald's prices "chain-calibrated" or "PPP-estimated". That means they were modelled from other markets, not read from a local menu, and they were far off. The modelled Mexican Big Mac was MX$59.25, while a dated whole-peso list shows MX$129. We have since replaced all four with dated listings, although our German list may show delivery-app prices. Ranking modelled numbers would give you a tidy chart that looked precise and wasn't, so our Big Mac price index leaves out any price that's estimated or more than a year old when it picks the cheapest and dearest countries.

For the countries where we have prices from menu listings and delivery platforms, we show them on each country's menu page, with the date we checked. Treat them as a guide.

How accurate are these prices?

McDonald's doesn't publish one national price list in most countries, and franchisees set their own prices. Our figures come from menu-price websites and delivery listings, checked in late August and early September 2026. A few sources date their prices earlier, and some describe a single branch.

Read every price as a representative guide, not a promise about your local restaurant. Each menu page shows the date we last verified it, and you can read exactly how we work on our methodology page.