The Big Mac Index was created in the 80s as a simplistic way of calculating how much the exact same product (a McDonald’s Big Mac) would cost in other countries. According to the latest BMI, the most expensive Big Macs come from Venezuela,  Norway, Sweden & Switzerland.  Australia ranks in the middle of the pack with a Big Mac price only 12% more expensive than the US.

In a somewhat similar index, Kaiku has created an Ice Cream Currency Calculator indexing prices of ice cream globally. I’m not sure how Kaiku figured out the average price in each country but their premise is that cheap ice cream means everything else in the country will be cheap too.  Assuming the data is correct, the most expensive ice creams come from the UAE, New Zealand, and Sweden. This time Australia clocks in at around the 5th spot as having one of the pricier ice creams in the world. Compared to the price in New York, Australia’s ice creams are more than double in price.

We know that Australia has one of the highest costs of living in the world in addition to being expensive for tourists. There are a only a handful of more expensive countries in the world. On the flip-side, places like Malaysia have relatively cheap food prices. Combining this with an Air Asia deal, Malaysia becomes a reasonably priced holiday destination for Australians. Of course, if you want free ice cream, Ben & Jerry’s free cone day is April 9.