McDonald's Has NEVER Opened in These Countries

McDonald's feels like it's everywhere. But I checked all 197 countries, and it's missing from more than half of them. 🟢 91 countries have McDonald's today. 🟠 12 countries had McDonald's, and it left: 🇷🇺 Russia (May 2022, about 850 restaurants became "Vkusno i tochka"), 🇧🇾 Belarus (2022), 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan (2023), 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka (March 2024), 🇮🇸 Iceland (2009, after the financial crash), 🇧🇴 Bolivia (2002), 🇯🇲 Jamaica (2005), 🇧🇧 Barbados, 🇸🇲 San Marino (2019, after exactly 20 years), 🇲🇰 North Macedonia (2013, all 7 restaurants closed within 48 hours), 🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina (2022) and 🇲🇪 Montenegro (only a summer pop-up, gone by 2007). 🔴 94 countries never had one, including 🇳🇬 Nigeria (Africa's most populous country), 🇮🇷 Iran (home of copycats like "Mash Donald's"), 🇰🇵 North Korea, 🇲🇳 Mongolia (Burger King came in 2015, McDonald's never did), 🇱🇸 Lesotho (completely surrounded by South Africa, which has McDonald's), 🇰🇪 Kenya and 🇦🇱 Albania. 😮 Surprises: 🇨🇺 Cuba's only McDonald's is on the US Guantánamo Bay naval base, and Cubans can't go there. 🇻🇦 The "Vatican McDonald's" is actually just outside the Vatican, in Italy. 🇲🇨 Monaco, 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein and 🇼🇸 Samoa each have just one restaurant. 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan announced its first McDonald's in September 2026, but it hasn't opened yet. 📊 Sourcing Wikipedia "List of countries with McDonald's restaurants" (December 2025 data) and McDonald's corporate "Where We Operate" page, cross-checked with NPR, CBS News, Balkan Insight, Ada Derana, Interfax, Business Daily Africa, Armenpress and others. Counts sovereign countries only. As of October 2026. #mcdonalds #map #mapmayhem #geography #fastfood