Why does a Big Mac cost $1.26 in one country and $4.90 in another? When you plot Big Mac prices against GDP per capita across 10 countries, you can look for a pattern — do wealthier nations charge more? In poorer countries, the burger price runs high compared to average income. In wealthier ones, it runs low. The data shows a general relationship between the two measurements, but higher national wealth does not always mean a more expensive burger.

You plot Big Mac prices and GDP per capita side by side for each country, creating two charts to compare the data directly. The results are striking: higher national wealth does not always mean a more expensive burger. That gap between what the numbers suggest and what the visualization reveals is exactly what makes this kind of analysis useful.

GDP per capita divides a country’s total economic output by its population — it’s average income per person. You can see this measure in action by comparing Big Mac prices across 10 countries with different income levels. The results are surprising: higher national wealth does not always mean a more expensive burger. Local costs and wages also shape prices, so the relationship between GDP per capita and what things cost is more complicated than it first appears.