How Many Locations Does McDonald's Have Around The World?

It sometimes feels like McDonald's is everywhere. A majority of towns in America, both big and small, seem to have at least one, and tales of local specialties exclusive to the menus of McDonald's restaurants abroad — like the Teriyaki McBurger in Japan — give the impression that the entire world is filled with them. In fact, as of 2023, there are over 41,800 McDonald's locations franchised around the globe, per data collected by Statista. At the time of publication, the number of operating locations continues to grow, with plans to hit a total of 50,000 by 2027, per McDonald's. 

Obviously, McDonald's is all over North and South America – from Canada, where you can order poutine with your Big Mac, to Chile, which has the creamy McPollo Italiano chicken sandwich. The United States is the nation with the most locations at over 13,000, which makes sense considering it was the country where the fast food giant was founded — Even the U.S. Pentagon has a McDonald's. Europe is home to plenty of Golden Arches, too, mainly on the western side. France offers both the most expensive McDonald's menu item and the highest number of locations on the continent, while Tromsø, Norway is now home to the northernmost McDonald's in the world. Many Asian countries also enjoy McDonald's, including India, with its double-stacked Maharaja Mac, and China, where you can get a sweet Taro Pie for dessert. In Australia, customers can enjoy the Cadbury Cherry Ripe McFlurry at local McDonald's restaurants, an Aussie-inspired treat that had its nationwide debut in December 2024.

Of course, McDonald's can't truly be everywhere. The restaurant has yet to open franchises in over 100 countries, for a variety of different reasons. In some cases, a nation may lack the sufficient infrastructure to support a fast food chain. On the other hand, there are some places where the company is simply wary of wading into politically unstable territory. This explains why you won't be ordering a Big Mac in Syria or Palestine. As of 2025, you also won't find any McDonald's locations in nations like Nigeria, Ethiopia, or Bangladesh, per World Population Review. 

Italy has quite a few McDonald's locations (you can even get tiramisu in Rome), but the independent micronation within it, Vatican City, has none, likely because the incredibly small city-state is run by the Catholic Church. Cuba has a single McDonald's located at the U.S. military base on Guantanamo Bay – however, the country itself does not, likely due to the embargo the U.S. imposed on Cuba since the Cold War. That hasn't stopped McDonald's from trying to get a foothold on the island nation, though, with attempts to open new restaurants once in the 1980s, and again in the 2000s.

In at least one case, the corporation has been flat-out banned from doing business. Bermuda outlawed all international fast food chains in the country in 1977, and even criminalized the opening of foreign franchises 20 years later. But sometimes, McDonald's has cut and run of its own volition. In spring 2022, the company completely pulled out of Russia after 30 years of operation, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier that year.