More money does not mean more Big Macs – Analysis of physicians’ purchasing power in European countries

Purpose: One of the major determinants of the well-being of citizens is the purchasing power of their income. Recently, there has been a significant outmigration of physicians from countries with low GDP per capita to those with high GDP per capita. This movement is often driven by the perception that higher nominal salaries provide better purchasing power parity (PPP). This research paper employs the Big MacIndex to examine whether PPP is higher in countries with higher GDP per capita than in countries with lower GDP per capita. Methodology: Data were collected for this study via Google and PubMed search engines, using words like “physician purchasing power parity”, “physician salary in 2020”, and “the Big Mac Index in 2020”. Then, the salaries adjusted for PPP and the Big Mac Index were used to calculate the number of Big Macs that can be purchased. Results: The highest number of Big Macs could be bought in Turkey, the country with the lowest GDP on our list. The number of Big Macs far exceeds the maximum that can be bought in high-GDP countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland. In Hungary, a country with a low GDP, a comparable number of Big Macs could be bought as in Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland. Conclusion: Thus, high nominal salaries in countries with a high GDP per capita do not necessarily translate into greater PPP. Physicians should reconsider outmigration if it is purely for economic reasons. Outmigration is a demanding effort that can result in financial disappointment.