Globalized fast food brands, 2014

The large fast food brands contribute to food globalization (cheap standardized products of low nutritional quality) and the increased numbers of people who are overweight or obese. The near 140,000 sales outlets in 148 countries in 2014, according to The Economist, are very unequally distributed (size of dots). In keeping with the history of their development, half are in the United States, whereas many African countries have none at all. When these figures are linked to the population of each country (color shading), it becomes evident that the offer per inhabitant is highest in North America, Australia, and Europe, whereas in China, the country that comes second for the number of sales outlets, the offer concerns only a small share of the population.