November 2026

Drive-through, Tokyo

McDonald's is the most familiar yardstick a traveller carries. The chain sells the same burger in more than a hundred countries, so the distance to the nearest one shows how far a global consumer brand has reached into a city or a country.

How close is a McDonald's in the world's big cities?

Where do the McDonald's run out?

Across whole regions I measured the distance along the Earth's surface instead. In North America and Europe almost everyone lives near one. In Africa almost no one does, except at its northern and southern tips.

So what decides the distance?

Money explains most of the distance. Across the 82 countries with three restaurants or more, income alone accounts for about 60% of the differences in restaurants per person. Where a country is rich enough for hundreds of restaurants and still has none, the reason is political. The chain left Russia in 2022 and has never opened in Iran.