Map shows when each European country got its first McDonald's

A map circulating on Reddit has sparked discussion by illustrating the year each European country welcomed its first McDonald's restaurant. The visualization colors countries based on when the iconic American fast-food chain established a presence in their market.

According to the map's data, Serbia saw its first McDonald's open in 1988, followed by Slovenia in 1993, and Croatia in 1996. Bosnia and Herzegovina's first restaurant opened in 2011, though McDonald's later permanently closed all its outlets in the country at the end of 2022.

The map details specific opening dates and locations for some of these initial restaurants. Croatia's first McDonald's debuted on February 2, 1996, in Zagreb's Jurišićeva street, while Serbia's first opened on March 24, 1988, in Belgrade's Slavija square. Ljubljana hosted Slovenia's first opening in 1993.

Globally, McDonald's first entered Europe in 1971 with a restaurant in Zaandam, Netherlands, followed by another opening in Munich in the same year. The chain's arrival in Russia in 1990, after 14 years of negotiations, was seen as a symbol of the Soviet Union's economic and political reforms.