London, July 24, 2008 - A McDonald's Big Mac burger is over-valued by 50 percent in the eurozone when compared to its price in dollars and under-valued by 49 percent in China, the Economist magazine said in its edition appearing Friday.

The magazine wrote that according to its Big Mac Index, which compares exchange rates that should leave a Big Mac burger costing the same in dollars everywhere, "many currencies look more out of whack than in July 2007, when we last compared burger prices."

A Big Mac costs on average 3.57 dollars in the United States. But in the eurozone a consumer with the US currency in hand would have to change 5.34 dollars to buy a burger in euros.

For the two currencies to have the same purchasing power at McDonald's, the euro should be worth 1.06 dollars, rather than 1.57 dollars at present, suggesting that the single currency is over-valued by 50 percent against the dollar.

But the Economist found that "the dollar buys a lot of burger" in Asia, concluding that the Chinese yuan for example is under-valued by 49 percent against the dollar.

Elsewhere the survey found that the Swiss franc is over-valued by 78  percent against the dollar, the British pound 28 percent and the Norwegian krone 121 percent.