List of countries with McDonald's restaurants

This is a listing of countries with McDonald's franchises, followed by countries without any. McDonald's is the largest chain of fast food restaurants in the world. It has a total of more than 31,000 outlets worldwide. The list of countries follows the company's own calculation, and contains several non-sovereign territories.

Countries currently with McDonald's franchises

Countries with McDonald's stores

Badge issued to celebrate the opening of the first McDonald's in Belarus, which by the company's calculation was its 100th country

File:Mcdonaldsargentina.jpg

McDonald's in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

First McDonald's in Italy (Rome, 1986, near Piazza di Spagna, 425 seats).

Number	Country	Date	Year	Comments	Number of currently operating outlets
01	United States	May 15	1940	At The Airdrome building, San Bernardino, California.	13,381 (source: May 2009)
02	Canada	June 1	1967	Outlet opens in Richmond, British Columbia.	1,400 (source: March 2007)
03	Puerto Rico	November 10	1967	First McDonald's in Latin America and in the Caribbean.
04	U.S. Virgin Islands	September 4	1970
05	Costa Rica	December 28	1970	Third country (not U.S. possession) where McDonald's opened.
06	Guam	June 10	1971	First outlet in Oceania and first outlet outside North America.
07	Japan	July 20	1971	With the opening of an outlet in Tokyo, the company established a presence in Asia for the first time.	3,598 (source: 2004)
08	Netherlands	August 21	1971	With the opening of an outlet in Amsterdam, the company established a presence in Europe for the first time.	220 (source: 2009)
09	Panama	September 1	1971		37 (source: 2009)
10	Germany	November 22	1971	First outlet in West Germany, outlets in the former East Germany opened in 1991.	1,361 (source: February 2010)
11	Australia	May 30	1971	With the opening of an outlet in the Sydney suburb of Yagoona the company established a presence on the third new continent in the span of six months.	701 (source: 2004) 730 (source: 2006)
12	France	June 30	1972	First outlet in Créteil in 1972 even though McDonald's officially recognizes the first outlet in Strasbourg in 1979	1,161 (source: December 2009)
13	El Salvador	July 20	1972		11 (source: Sept 2009)
14	Sweden	October 23	1973	First outlet in Scandinavia.	230 (source: December 2009)
15	Guatemala	June 6	1974		38 (source: 2007)
16	Curaçao	August 16	1974
17	United Kingdom/ England	October 12	1974	First outlet in the United Kingdom.	1,250 (United Kingdom wide, 784 company owned, 465 franchised, source: 2006)
18	Hong Kong	January 8	1975	First outlet opened in Paterson Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island.	200 (source:2009) 177 (source: 2004)
19	Bahamas	August 4	1975
20	New Zealand	June 7	1976	Founded in New Zealand by Hugh Morris, with first store opening in Porirua	152 (source: October 2010)
21	Switzerland	October 20	1976		148 (source: March 2010)
22	Ireland	May 9	1977		79 (source: February 2009)
23	Austria	July 21	1977		168 (source: 2009)
24	Belgium	March 21	1978		64 (source: 2004)
25	Brazil	February 13	1979	With the opening of an outlet in Rio de Janeiro the company established a presence on the continent of South America for the first time.	560 (source: 2009)
26	Singapore	October 20	1979	At Liat Towers, Orchard Road.	121 (source: 2004)
27	Spain	March 10	1981		276 (source: 2004)
28	Denmark	April 15	1981		83 (source: December 2009)
29	Philippines	September 27	1981		235 (source: 2004)
30	Malaysia	April 29	1982	McDonald's available in the first Muslim-majority country.	194 (source: 2009) 139 (source: 2004)
31	Norway	November 18	1983		68 (source: December 2009)
32	Taiwan	January 28	1984	Some consider this the first outlet in China due to political reasons.	338 (source: 2004)
33	Andorra	June 29	1984		3 (source: 2009)
34	Wales	December 3	1984		1,250 (United Kingdom wide, 784 company owned, 465 franchised, source: 2006)
35	Finland	December 14	1984		93 (source: 2004)
36	Thailand	February 23	1985		88 (source: 2004)
37	Aruba	April 4	1985
38	Luxembourg	July 17	1985		7 (source: 2009)
39	Venezuela	August 31	1985		140 (source: 2009)
40	Italy	October 15	1985	First outlet in Rome near Piazza di Spagna.	392 (source: 2009)
41	Mexico	October 29	1985		367 (source: 2009)
42	Cuba	April 24	1986	Available only in Guantanamo Bay to U.S. Military personnel and their families.	1 (source: 2009)
43	Turkey	October 24	1986	First outlet in the Greater Middle East.	133 (source: 2004)
44	Argentina	November 24	1986		187 (source: 2009)
45	Macau	April 11	1987	First outlet on Portuguese territory.
46	Scotland	November 23	1987		1,250 (United Kingdom wide, 784 company owned, 465 franchised, source: 2006)
47	Yugoslavia/ Serbia	March 24	1988	First outlet in a communist country and first outlet in the Balkans.	14 (source: 2010)
48	South Korea	March 29	1988		243 (source: 2004)
49	Hungary	April 13	1988	Second communist country, first Warsaw Pact member, thus first outlet behind the Iron Curtain.	76 (source: 2004)
50	Soviet Union/Russia	January 31	1990	First outlet in Russia.	235 (source: 2009)
51	China	October 8	1990	First outlet in Shenzhen.	850 (August 2010)
52	Chile	November 19	1990		69 (source: 2009)
53	Indonesia	February 23	1991	Most of the outlets are open for 24 hours daily.	75 (source: 2004)
54	Portugal	May 23	1991		91 (source: 2004)
55	Northern Ireland	October 14	1991	With the opening of an outlet in Belfast, McDonald's was now available UK-wide.	1,250 (United Kingdom wide, 784 company owned, 465 franchised, source: 2006). 32 outlets in Northern Ireland.
56	Greece	November 12	1991		48 (source: 2004)
57	Uruguay	November 18	1991
58	Martinique	December 16	1991
59	Czechoslovakia	March 20	1992	First outlet in Czech Republic.
60	Guadeloupe	April 8	1992
61	Poland	June 17	1992		490 (source: 2010)
62	Monaco	November 20	1992
63	Brunei	December 12	1992		1 (source: 2004)
64	Morocco	December 18	1992	With the opening of an outlet in Casablanca the company had expanded into Africa and had a presence on all continents except Antarctica.
65	Northern Marianas	March 18	1993
66	Israel	October 14	1993		153 (source: May 2010)
67	Slovenia	December 2	1993		16 (source: 2009)
68	Saudi Arabia	December 8	1993		60 (source: 2009)
69	Botswana	May 13	1994
70	Kuwait	June 15	1994		37 (source: 2007)
71	New Caledonia	July 26	1994
72	Oman	July 30	1994		9 (December 2009)
73	Egypt	October 20	1994		50 (source 2003)
74	Bulgaria	December 10	1994		30 (source: 2010)
75	Bahrain	December 15	1994		14 (source: 2010)
76	Latvia	December 15	1994	First outlet in the Baltics.
77	United Arab Emirates	December 21	1994
78	Estonia	April 29	1995		9 (source: September 2010)
79	Romania	June 16	1995		126 (source: 2010)
80	Malta	July 7	1995		8 (7 in Malta, 1 in Gozo) (source: 2009)
81	Colombia	July 14	1995		78 (source: November 2009)
82	Slovakia	October 14	1995		21 (source: December 2010)
83	South Africa	November 11	1995		129 (source: 2009)
84	Qatar	December 13	1995		7 (source: 2003)
85	Honduras	December 14	1995
86	Saint Martin	December 15	1995
87	Croatia	February 2	1996		16 (source: 2009)
88	Western Samoa	March 2	1996
89	Fiji Islands	May 1	1996		3 (source: 2001)
90	Liechtenstein	May 3	1996		2 (source: 2009)
91	Lithuania	May 31	1996		6 (source: 2002)
92	Cyprus	June 12	1996		13 (source: 2004)
93	India	October 13	1996		192 (source: 2010)
94	Peru	October 18	1996		22 (source: 2009)
95	Jordan	November 7	1996
96	Paraguay	November 21	1996		6 (source: 2009)
97	Dominican Republic	November 30	1996
98	French Polynesia	December 10	1996	First outlet in Tahiti.
99	Belarus	December 10	1996	The company claimed this as McDonald's "100th country" although this calculation included many non-sovereign territories even though McDoanld's shut down in Iceland in 2009 it is the 99th country now.
100	Ukraine	May 28	1997		57 (source: 2007)
101	Yemen	August 22	1997
102	Republic of Macedonia	September 6	1997		6 (source: 2010)
103	Ecuador	October 9	1997		10 (source: 2007)
104	Réunion	December 14	1997
105	Isle of Man	December 15	1997
106	Suriname	December 18	1997		2 (source: 2010)
107	Moldova	April 30	1998
108	Nicaragua	July 11	1998	McDonald's outlets ceased operation during the Nicaraguan civil war and re-established a presence in 1998 after an absence of two decades.	6 (source: June 2010)
109	Lebanon	September 18	1998
110	Pakistan	September 19	1998		25 (source: 2005)
111	Sri Lanka	October 16	1998
112	Georgia	February 5	1999	First outlet in Tbilisi.	5 (source: 2010)
113	San Marino	July 6	1999	One location in Borgo Maggiore.	1 (source: 2010)
114	Gibraltar	August 13	1999
115	Zambia	November 2	1999		3 (source: 2010)
116	Azerbaijan	November 6	1999		5 (source: 2010)
117	French Guiana	February 22	2000
118	American Samoa	September 29	2000
119	Mauritius	July 4	2001	One location in Port Louis.	1 (source: 2010)
120	Mayotte	May 1	2003
121	Montenegro	June 1	2004		1 (source: 2006)
122	Algeria	June 1	2006
123	Iraq	August 10	2006	One location in Baghdad for the U.S. Army, but there is also a knockoff called MaDonal.	1 (source: 2006)
124	Bosnia and Herzegovina	October 9	2009	One location in Sarajevo	1 (source: 2010)
125	Libya	June 7	2010	Two locations in Tripoli	2 (source: 2010)

Former locations

One of the three McDonald's restaurants in Iceland before their closing

1. (July 14-16, 1994) Iran - Poltical Reasons
2. (November 10, 1985-March 9, 1995) Bermuda [1] - government influence
3. (June 30-December 31, 1996) Barbados [2] - slow sales
4. (February 1, 1997-December 31, 2002) Bolivia [3] - closed due to slow sales and cost
5. (May 6, 1997-October 25, 2003) Trinidad and Tobago [4] - closed due to slow sales
6. (April 15, 1995-October 30, 2005) Jamaica [5] - closed due to government problems and slow sales
7. (September 3, 1993-October 31, 2009) Iceland [6] - Closed down by Icelandic affiliate citing prohibitive costs of importing foreign foodstuffs as required by McDonald's. Its former McDonald's outlets will be re-branded as its own chain of Metro restaurants offering similar service and menus with domestically produced ingredients.

Countries without McDonald's locations

Ask Yahoo! compared the United States Department of State's list of independent states to a list of franchises on the McDonald's website, and derived that the following countries don't have McDonald's locations.[7]

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (15 out of 35 countries)

• Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago

In addition there is a McDonald's restaurant in the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, land leased from Cuba that hosts a US Naval facility.

NORTH AMERICA (1 out of 23 countries)

• Greenland

EUROPE (5 out of 46 countries)

• Albania, Armenia, Iceland, and the Vatican City.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA (4 out of 19 countries)

• Iran, Syria, Tunisia, and Western Sahara.

ASIA (18 out of 46 countries)

• Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma (also known as Myanmar), Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Palestine, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA (46 out of 53 countries)

• Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe

ANTARCTICA (15 claims, territories, and island territories)

• Adélie Land, Antártica, Argentine Antarctica, Australian Antarctic Territory, British Antarctic Territory, Chilean Antarctic Territory, Queen Maud Land, Peter I Island, Ross Dependency, Brazilian Antarctica, Marie Byrd Land, New Swabia, Bouvet Island, French Southern Territories, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

OCEANIA (11 out of 15 countries)

• Kiribati, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu

Expansions by region

Continent	Location	City	Date	Year
North America	United States	San Bernardino	May 15	1940
Caribbean	Puerto Rico	San Juan	November 10	1967
Central America	Costa Rica	File:San Jose Costa Rica Flag-------.svg San José	December 28	1970
Oceania	Australia	Sydney	May 30	1971
Asia	Japan	Tokyo	July 20	1971
Europe	Netherlands	Amsterdam	August 21	1971
South America	Brazil	Rio de Janeiro	February 13	1979
Africa	Morocco	File:Logo casa.png Casablanca	December 18	1992

Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention

In Thomas L. Friedman's 1999 book The Lexus and the Olive Tree the following observation was presented: "No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's". While that statement was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, his point was that due to globalization, countries that have made strong economic ties with one another have too much to lose to ever go to war with one another. Regardless of whether the statement is true, the conclusions to be drawn are unclear. The global expansion of McDonald's restaurants is a relatively recent phenomenon when put into the context of the history of warfare, and, with a few notable exceptions, has proceeded into relatively stable markets.

The 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia is a counterexample to the theory, both countries having McDonald's at the time (started in 1990 and 1999, respectively). Other conflicts that provide possible counterexamples, depending on what one considers "a war", include the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, the bombing of Serbia, and the Kargil War along with ongoing skirmishes between India and factions of Pakistan over the Kashmir region.

The appearance of McDonald's does not end an existing state of war: the states of Lebanon and Israel have been under a state of war since 1973, with South Lebanon occupied until May 2000 and a significant flareup in 2006, which did not hinder the establishment of McDonald's franchises in Israel and Lebanon in 1993 and 1998, respectively. The two countries engaged in a brief war in the summer of 2006, although the Lebanese Armed Forces were not a party to the fighting, the Israel Defense Forces action being taken instead against the paramilitary group Hezbollah.

See also: Golden Arches § The Golden Arches theory

See also

• List of countries
• Big Mac Index
• Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention
• MaDonal

External links

• McDonalds countries
• Another chronology of openings
• Alternate chronology