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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Expo 2025 being held?
Expo 2025 is being staged in Osaka, Kansai, Japan, a sizable port city and commercial center on the island of Honshu. The third-largest city in Japan, Osaka is also known as City of Merchants and Japan’s Kitchen, with a unique food culture that’s acknowledged worldwide. Specifically, the event will be held on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay.
Notably, this is the second world expo the city has hosted, with the first one occurring 55 years ago when Osaka was the site of Expo ‘70. The city also hosted Expo ‘90, which was not a world’s fair but a large-scale international horticultural exposition. With 83 countries exhibiting and 23 million visitors attending, however, it was on par with many standard world expos, giving the city even more experience holding mega-events. How long will Expo 2025 run?
Expo 2025 will run roughly six months, opening on April 13, 2025, and closing on October 13, 2025, for a grand total of 184 days.
Six months is the usual run time for the larger world expo — aka, international registered exhibitions — like the Osaka event that takes place in years ending with a 0 or a 5 (e.g., 2020 or 2025). The April-October timetable is one most countries hosting an expo currently adhere to with the occasional exception. Dubai, for example, held its Expo 2020 from October 2021 through March 2022 (the pandemic delayed its opening by one year) because of the extreme heat visitors would have encountered in an April-October time frame and because the holy month of Ramadan started in April in 2021. How many cities bid to host Expo 2025?
Four cities competed for the opportunity to hold the world’s fair this year: Paris, France; Ekaterinburg, Russia; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Osaka, Japan.
Once Paris submitted its proposal on November 22, 2016, that officially opened the bidding process, triggering the six-month window the governing body for world expos, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), allows for other cities to enter their own bids after the first one is made. After Paris entered, Ekaterinburg, Baku, and Osaka followed suit with their own pitches. Ekaterinburg’s bid was based on the theme “Changing the World: Innovations and Better Life for Future Generations” while Baku centered its motif on “Developing Human Capital, Building a Better Future.” Osaka’s concentrated on “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” Once the candidates announced they would be competing to host Expo 2025, they had until September 2017 to submit detailed proposals, which were then followed up by BIE Enquiry Missions to those sites in early 2018. (A bid to host a World Expo has to be made a maximum of nine and a minimum of six years ahead of its opening. Once one city has submitted a bid, however, all other potential candidate cities must submit their bid within six months.) France, however, withdrew its candidacy in January 2018 due to financial concerns, citing the costs of hosting the 2024 Olympics and the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The last time France hosted a world expo was in 1937. When the BIE met for its 164th General Assembly in November 2018, it voted on the three remaining candidates. After two rounds of voting via secret ballot, Japan emerged the victor, with Russia and Azerbaijan coming in next, respectively. Who is responsible for running Expo 2025?
While the Japanese and Osaka governments essentially oversee the location, logistics, and construction of Expo 2025, it is primarily organized by the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition.
The Japan Association’s duties encompass preparing and managing the exposition, including overseeing the construction of pavilions, coordinating with participating countries, and ensuring the smooth operation of the event. The governing body that sets the rules for it and other world’s fairs, however, is the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), whose headquarters are in Paris. What exactly is the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE)?
The idea of creating a supervising body for world expos began with the Commissioner General of the British pavilion in the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. He issued a memorandum that laid down three main objectives: controlling the size and duration of expos; setting a rotation system between cities and countries; and defining the different types of expos and ensuring the quality of their exhibits. The memorandum was signed by the Commissioner General and his equivalents from the United States, Russia, Italy, Austria, and Prussia.
The effort languished, though, until another attempt in 1912 to establish a controlling organization that would take effect by 1914, but that too was aborted due to the onset of World War I. Finally, the BIE was formally established in Paris in 1928 by an international convention. The nations that convened that year endowed the BIE with the power to select and schedule world expos. Additionally, the BIE establishes the rights, rules, and responsibilities of those who produce and take part in these fairs. Prior to 1928, international exhibitions were staged according to the whims and caprices of the country that decided to produce them. Accordingly, the pre-1928 expos appeared on no particular schedule, and were held mostly in First World locations such as London, Paris, Vienna, Chicago, New York, and St. Louis, and tended to promote products and advocate national aspirations, rather than explore ideas. Currently the 184 member nations of the BIE convene twice a year in Paris. Membership in the BIE is open to any country that agrees to abide by the 1928 Convention, and its 1972 Protocol on International Exhibitions, which established education as the expos’ primary goal. the BIE also issued a resolution in 1994 that specified expos must address the era’s critical problems, including environmental protection. Is the United States a member of the BIE?
The United States originally joined the BIE in1968 but severed its connection 33 years later. In that time, interest domestically in global expositions waned as one of the prime justifications for taking part in world expos (then called world’s fairs) — combatting the Cold War — drew to a close with the United States the seemingly uncontested winner and its enemies in permanent retreat. Further, the underwhelming 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN, and the 1984 Louisiana World’s Fair in New Orleans dampened enthusiasm for what was coming to be seen as passé entertainment with an increasingly vague purpose and a high price tag. “The Simpsons” famously lampooned the Knoxville expo in the 1996 episode “Bart on the Road,” while the New Orleans effort was the first world’s fair to go broke during its run, leaving unpaid bills totaling $100 million. In1995, a Washington think tank denounced the annual BIE dues of $25,000 as “pork-barrel spending,” and in 2001, under the Bush administration, the United States defaulted on its membership by simply skipping its dues for several years.
Lacking official membership would not necessarily have prevented the United States from hosting a BIE-approved expo. However, to win the BIE’s endorsement for one would have required winning 67 percent of the organization’s members’ approval, while any country belonging to the BIE would only have to secure a simple majority of votes. Despite the nation’s waning interest, the United States still exhibited at world expos, in pavilions funded by corporate donations. In 2017, the United States rejoined the BIE, becoming the 170th member state of the organization after President Trump signed the “U.S. Wants to Compete for a World Expo Act” into law. Sponsored by five Democrats and six Republicans, the bipartisan bill directed the Secretary of State to rejoin the international body within 90 days after passing. Impetus for the effort came in part from Minnesota’s effort to hold a world's fair in 2023 (and, when that did not pan out, in 2027), which would have had a projected economic windfall to the Midwestern state of $4 billion. Is the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) responsible for any trade shows?
No. The BIE’s jurisdiction extends only to international exhibitions run by governments. It does not cover, for example, fine arts expos, fairs that run less than three weeks, or commercial exhibitions. Thus, that rules out trade shows.
Where are world expos usually held?
Until 1970, most of the fairs were held in first-world cities, from London, Paris, and Philadelphia, to Chicago, New York, Montreal, Milan, and other major urban centers.
But with Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan, world’s fairs began trending toward non-western locales, including ones in: Okinawa, Japan (1975); Tsukuba, Japan (1985); Shanghai (2010); Yeosu, South Korea (2012); Astana, Kazakhstan (2017); and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (2020), and, of course, Osaka, Japan (2025). After Osaka, the next world expos are scheduled for Belgrade, Serbia in 2027, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2030. How often are world expos held?
The major world expos are held every five years in years ending with “0” and “5.” The smaller ones are held in-between the larger ones, usually at two- or three-year intervals. For example, after Expo 2010 in Shanghai, a more modest one was held in Yeosu, South Korea in 2012. Similarly, following Expo 2015 in Milan, the smaller-scale Expo 2017 was staged in Kazakhstan.
How many types of international exhibitions are there?
Basically, there are two kinds: world expos (aka international registered exhibitions, world’s fairs, or universal expositions) and international/specialized expos (also called international recognized expositions). Note that people typically use “world expos” to refer to both types, despite technical differences between them.
Since 1960, the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) has also covered a third type, known as international horticultural exhibitions. While these can be extensive, and, as evidenced by their name, attract a global audience, they are not considered in the same league as world expos. What are the differences between world expos and international/specialized expos?
The most salient distinctions are those of scale and chronology. Starting with the 21st century, world expos can now occur every five years, in years that end with a 5 or a 0 (e.g., 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025), while international/specialized expos, can take place any time between two world expos, such as the Yeosu, South Korea, in 2012 and Astana, Kazakhstan in 2017. World expos can now last as long as six months (in the past, some ran for two years, such as Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition that stretched from 1933 to 1934, and New York’s World’s Fair, which took place from 1964 to 1965), but international/specialized expos can run for no more than three months.
World expos can be staged over an unlimited amount of space, though international/specialized expos are constrained to a maximum of 25 hectares (about 62 acres, or 2.7 million square feet). There are two other key distinctions that bear mentioning. In world expos, the participating countries and other organizations generally construct their own pavilions, while in international/specialized expos, the show organizer generally builds pavilions, then makes areas within them available to participants. Finally, the themes in world expos must reflect what the BIE calls a “universal concern.” For example, Expo 2010’s motto was “Better City, Better Life,” addressing the urban ills that scourge the world’s municipalities. By contrast, the theme of the 2008 international/specialized expo in Zaragoza, Spain, was “Water and Sustainable Development,” a vital concern, certainly, but it smacked more of an educational museum exhibit rather than a Herculean challenge for all mankind. Expo 2025’s theme is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” which broadly is likely to encompass exotic technologies that may quickly accelerate from science fiction to societal necessity in a very short time. When are the next expos scheduled to take place?
After the one in Osaka, the next world’s fair is slated for Belgrade, Serbia. Its theme will be ‘Play for Humanity – Sport and Music for All.” After that, the following expo is slated for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2030.
Belgrade’s fair is technically an international/specialized expo, which is by definition smaller in size, shorter in duration, and less ambitious in theme than the average world expo — such as the one slated for Riyadh three years later. There, in the sprawling political and administrative center of Saudi Arabia, the expo will transpire under theme of "Foresight for Tomorrow." How large are the Expo 2025 grounds?
Measuring 155 hectares (383 acres), Expo 2025 has one of the more modest footprints in the 174-year-old history of world’s fairs. To give you an idea of the scale, the largest ever, Expo 2010 in Shanghai, came in at 1305 acres — meaning Osaka’s could fit into it more than three times. Indeed, the Shanghai fair was so large, it could contain the country of Monaco inside its own borders — twice. Another estimate claimed Mount Everest would have fit inside Expo 2010 nearly six times.
While considered huge even in an era of 2,000-foot-tall skyscrapers, Expo 2010 wasn’t an anomaly for world’s fairs. Staunch advocates of the adage that “size matters,” expos have always been ginormous. Starting with the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis — which, impressively, was 97 percent the size of the Shanghai expo, despite the limited logistics and technology of the time —expos began to manifest the peculiar American trait of “bigger is better,” becoming titanic, if transient, cities. The list below shows the ebb and flow of various expo’s sizes from the earliest one to the latest.
How many countries are participating in Expo 2025?
The number of official participants stands at roughly 180. This count includes 153 countries, nine international Organizations (e.g., European Union, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement), a dozen corporate pavilions (Panasonic, Mitsubishi among them) as well as eight so-called ‘Signature” pavilions. These last are produced by high-profile experts (e.g., filmmaker Naomi Kawa, and roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, whose android doppelganger will be on display) who will introduce their take on Expo 2025’s theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”
Below is an alphabetized list of the countries, international organizations, and non-governmental groups exhibiting at Expo 2025. Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Czechia DR Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia Fiji, Finland, France Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana Haiti, Holy See (inside the Italian pavilion), Honduras, Hungary Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy Jamaica, Japan, Jordan Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway Oman Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal Qatar Romania, Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland Thailand, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tunisia United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan Vietnam Corporate Pavilions Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan, Sumitomo, Panasonic Holdings Corporation, Mitsubishi, Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings Co. Ltd., Pasona Group Inc., Zeri Japan, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc., Yushan Digital Tech Co. Ltd., Japan Gas Association, Iida Group Holdings Corporation, Osaka Food Service Industry Association International and Non-Governmental Organizations African Union, ASEAN, European Union, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, International Solar Alliance, International Science and Technology Center, ITER, Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations Signature Pavilions Better Co-Being, The Future of Life, Playground of Life, Null2, Dynamic Equilibrium Hall, The Adventure of Life, Earth Mart, Dialogue Theater What countries withdrew from Expo 2025?
Several nations had originally agreed to participate in the expo but have since pulled out of the event. They include:
Afghanistan, Argentina, Botswana, El Salvador, Estonia, Greece, Iran, Mexico, Niger, Niue, Russia, South Africa. Several of the withdrawing countries — e.g., Mexico, Estonia, Nigeria — cited rising construction material costs along with a labor shortage that threatened to severely delay their pavilions from opening on time. How many visitors are expected to attend Expo 2025?
Approximately 28 million are expected with an average of roughly 152,000 visitors per day of the 184-day event. Three million, or about 9.3 percent, are projected to come from overseas. This compares to the 60 million who attended Expo ‘70, also in Osaka.
How many people typically attend a world expo?
While an estimated 28 million people will visit Expo 2025 — that’s more than the population of Mexico City, and more than all the inhabitants of London, Paris, and Chicago combined — during its six-month run, that is far from a record turnout for a world expo.
To give some idea of past attendance figures, Dubai for Expo 2020 attracted just over 24 million (notably, during a pandemic). Kazakhstan was a smaller draw with 4 million visitors, at Expo 2017, of which 87 percent came from the Central Asian country. Milan for Expo 2015 drew 21.5 million. Those were eclipsed by Expo 2010 in Shanghai, which realized a history-making 73.5 million attendees (roughly 94 percent were Chinese) — including a single-day record where it accrued more than 1.03 million visitors. The partial list below of world’s fairs since 1851 below shows the wide range of attendance. Bolded items are officially or unofficially considered the smaller versions of world expositions known as international/specialized expos, which run for half the length of their larger counterparts.
What does Expo 2025 have to do with exhibit and event marketing?
While for the most part countries fill the role at Expo 2025 that corporations do at trade shows and events, all are similar in the techniques they bring to bear to achieve results. For example, Thailand’s or Turkey’s chief goal at Expo 2025 may be to improve their national images instead of selling widgets or generating leads, but both are doing it with branding and marketing campaigns executed via their respective exhibits or pavilions. Like companies exhibiting at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) or the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), exhibitors at Expo 2025 construct limited physical spaces in close proximity to their competition for a short duration. Each fills its space with staffers and often products to engage attendees with demos, presentations, literature, entertainment, activities, and the like. The United States, for instance, typically mans its pavilion with several dozen bilingual (or multilingual) college students to greet and mingle with visitors, believing that non-professionals serve as more effective ambassadors for the American brand than any slick piece of Madison Avenue-style promotion could.
Like all other world’s fairs and exposition, however, Expo 2025 does have its share of commercial entities striving to meet standard-issue corporate goals. About a dozen Japan-based firms like Panasonic Group, Mitsubishi, and Pasona have set up pavilions stocked with exhibits and displays to expose their firms to the Expo’s projected audience of 28 million. Shaped in the spiral form of ammonites, the extinct relatives of modern squid, Pasona’s pavilion will feature a large tree-shaped monument whose interior is gilded with layers depicting the history of evolution. Panasonic’s building is made from recycled home appliances, while Mitsubishi’s uses three geometric forms to symbolize a different element — the ellipse, life; the rhombus, nature; and the rectangle, society. What structures from past world expos are still standing?
For most of the world’s fairs’ 174-year-old history, the buildings they housed were designed to be as ephemeral as they were elegant. Almost all of the structures at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, for example, were deliberately engineered to last a maximum of a year or two, despite facades that resembled the centuries-enduring marble of the Parthenon or the age-defying limestone of the pyramids. In reality, the exterior materials were simply a mixture of plaster of Paris and hemp fibers called “staff,” spread over a wood frame. Similarly, buildings at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago crafted an illusion of permanence with 1/2-inch-thick wallboard set over a steel framework.
While show organizers exhibited an early form of planned obsolescence with these edifices, a handful of buildings from world expos avoided the scrap heap, often because of their overwhelming popularity and strategic re-purposing. Here are a few examples: *The main building at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia is now the Please Touch Museum. *The Eiffel Tower, constructed for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, was originally slated to be torn down after 20 years. Now 136 years old, it’s received more than 250 million visitors. * The Palace of Fine Arts, erected for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, later became the Museum of Science and Industry. *The Atomium, a model of an iron crystal atom magnified 165 billion times fabricated for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair, is still standing, having been renovated in 2004. *The Space Needle, raised as the focal point of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, is a permanent tourist attraction with an observation deck and a restaurant 500 feet off the ground. *The Unisphere, the stainless steel model of the Earth fashioned for the 1964 New York World’s Fair, was granted official landmark status by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1995. *The United States pavilion at Expo ‘67 in Montreal, a 250-foot-diameter geodesic dome, was transformed into a museum focusing on environmental issues. What happens to the pavilions after Expo 2025 is over?
Many of the Pavilions at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan will be reused, repurposed, or returned to their home countries after the event ends.
For example, Japan's, Luxembourg’s, and the Czech Republic’s pavilions, to name just a few, are designed for quick disassembly and reuse. Japan’s is a timber structure that can be easily dismantled and repurposed. In a similar vein, Luxembourg's pavilion emphasizes that it was "design[ed] for disassembly," which allows the construction materials to be reused or recycled. Brazil’s pavilion employs recyclable and inflatable materials that further helps shrink the size of its carbon footprint, while the internal “box” that houses the administrative functions are made of metal elements that are rented. Designed using reusable wooden elements and inspired by traditional patterns and embroidery, the Uzbekistan Pavilion will be converted into a school, workshop, or studio back home. The Philippine Pavilion, with a unique woven façade constructed using indigenous renewable materials, will later return to the Philippines. The Ring, the massive wooden structure surrounding the Expo 2025 site, is expected to be partly repurposed as a new landmark in Osaka. Starting with Expo 2020, in Dubai, there was a radical reimagining of what to do with the event’s buildings once the Expo closed. The rule of thumb now is that 80 percent of a World Expo’s structures should be recycled or reused in some way. Terra - The Sustainability Pavilion at Expo 2020 was not moved, but underwent an alteration in its purpose, changing to become an immersive children's science center. Likewise, the Al Wasl dome (the largest 360-degree projection surface in the world) and the Surreal water feature are still in place, as is the Cartier-sponsored Women’s pavilion. The Australia Pavilion, for another, is now the University of Wollongong’s Data Science, Discovery and Innovation Centre. Are pavilions allowed to sell commercial merchandise?
Yes. According to rules established by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) which governs world’s fairs, exhibitors may set aside as much as up to 20 percent of each pavilion’s floor space for commercial activities. Those activities can encompass anything from gift shops selling souvenirs to restaurants serving haute cuisine.
When did world’s fairs change their name to “expos”?
Although still known colloquially as “world’s fairs,” the global gatherings started becoming known officially as “expos” beginning with Expo ’67 in Montreal.
At first the show organizers wanted to call it “The 1967 Universal and International Exhibition in Montréal.” Cecil Carsley, the deputy commissioner general for the show, cringed at the name’s cumbersomeness, but also shied away from term “world’s fair,” as that had overtones to them of frivolous amusements and commerce, rather than education. Eventually Carsley and others settled on “Expo ’67.” Since then, world expos have adopted that brief and memorable naming convention, including: Expo ‘70 in Osaka, Japan; Expo ‘92 in Seville, Spain; and Expo 2020 in Dubai in Hanover, Germany. The current fair in Osaka continues that nomenclature, with the official name of Expo 2025. What products made their debuts at world’s fairs?
From guns to gums, world’s fairs have been the launching pads for dozens, even hundreds, of products that rocketed into our lives. At London’s Great Exhibition of the Works of All Nations in 1851, for example, visitors not only gaped at Samuel Morse’s telegraph, but also were privy to the comforts of the first major installation of public flush toilets. Thomas Edison demonstrated the melodic tones of the phonograph at Paris’ Exposition Universelle in 1889. Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition was literally a treat for foodies, with Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Beer, Aunt Jemima syrup, and Juicy Fruit gum taking their first major public bow there. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, aka the St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904, introduced the electrical plug and wall outlet as well as popularized the ice-cream cone. RCA Corp. premiered television at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, while 25 years later at the 1964 fair, also in Gotham, the Ford Motor Co. introduced the Mustang automobile. Expo ’70, also in Osaka, Japan, served as the stage for first-ever IMAX film.
It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes — or even Inspector Clouseau — to deduce why exhibitors chose world’s fairs to debut new wares. The reason was simple math: millions of attendees meant millions in sales. Before television and the Internet could introduce products to the masses in one fell swoop, world’s fairs constituted the greatest concentration of consumers in one space at any one time. Indeed, the 10 million attendees at Philadelphia’s Centennial International Exhibition in 1876 represented almost 25 percent of the total populace of the United States. Additionally, the 27 million who showed up for Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 were the equivalent of about 42 percent of the country’s head count. Even in this century, with a slew of ADD-inducing diversions, entertainments, and brand experiences, the fairs are still people magnets. At the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair, 45 million attended, equaling nearly 34 percent of the country’s residents. Expo ‘67 in Montreal drew 50 million – 2.5 times Canada’s entire population, while Shanghai drew almost 75 million visitors. Expo 2020 in Dubai achieved its goal of 24 million attendees, despite taking place during a worldwide pandemic. Like trade shows themselves, these figures suggest that world’s fairs will continue to be a preeminent showcase of new products and technologies. How often can a country hold a world expo?
According to the bylaws of world’s fairs governing body, the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) in Paris, a country can host a world expo just once every 15 years. That means, for instance, that Germany, the host of Expo 2000 in Hanover, could not have held another one until 2015. By the same rules, China, the host of Expo 2010, would have been unable to stage another world’s fair until 2025, and Dubai would not be eligible again until 2035, and Osaka, the site of Expo 2025, could not hold another one until 2040.
The same time restriction applies to international/specialized expos, which are a limited-size version of world expos. Thus, Kazakhstan, which hosted Expo 2017 in the city of Astana, could not host another one until 2032. What country has hosted the most expos?
The Paris-headquartered Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), which regulates expos, recognizes some 36 major world’s fairs that have been staged since London’s Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851. Of those, the United States accounts for about 17 percent, with at least 6 to its credit. (A 7th, the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, is sometimes not counted since the BIE never officially approved it.) These include such seminal expositions as Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial International Exhibition, Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and New York’s 1939-40 World’s Fair.
Tied with US are France and Belgium, also with half a dozen expos each. Next in line is Japan, for which 2025 will be its fourth. Spain has three and Italy two. While Expo 2010 was the first held in China, it is part of a larger trend of setting them in Asia: seven of 22 large and small expos (the smaller ones are called “recognized” or “specialized” exhibitions) from 1970 to 2025 have taken place on that continent, including three in Japan (in the cities of Osaka, Tsukuba, and Aichi) and one in South Korea (Daejeon), and in Shanghai, China. Do world expos make a profit?
A quick glance at the historical record suggests that, initially, world's fairs lose money like the stock market in 1929. In his book on the 1939 New York World's Fair, "Twilight at the World of Tomorrow," James Mauro notes that only four of the 14 world's fairs from 1851 to 1939 turned a profit. And even then, their bounty often wasn't much: One of those four money-making fairs, Chicago's 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, cleared just $160,000 after expenses of about $100 million, according to historian John Findling, co-editor of "Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions."
Despite advances in marketing and experience accumulated over the decades in producing expos, fairs still end up in more red than an episode of "Dexter." In a 1981 syndicated column on the proposed 1982 world’s fair, aka the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, financial journalist Louis Rukeyser noted that the 1964 New York World's Fair, Expo '67 in Montreal, and Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan lost a combined total of nearly $130 million — or very roughly $1 billion in 2025 dollars. More recent fairs have suffered a similar financial fate: Expo '86's losses in Vancouver, Canada, ran to $33 million while those of Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany totaled at least $1.1 billion. Shanghai officials said they expected no immediate profit whatsoever from Expo 2010, which the Chinese spent as much as $50 billion or more on. But just as an immediate profit on the trade show floor is not always the best metric to judge an exhibit’s success by, neither is it necessarily the most accurate measure of a world's fair. After the overwhelming display of American industrial and agricultural products before a large international audience at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the United States reversed its trade deficit for the first time since the country was founded. For other expo hosts, however, the positive results came from long-term investment in their infrastructures originally made for the fairs: Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 spurred construction of a modern grid of roads and subways, which helped put it in the map. The 1939 World’s Fair in New York led to enormous civic improvements — such as the linking of the Grand Central Parkway to the then-new Triborough Bridge and spurring the completion of what became LaGuardia Airport. These enhancements helped established the Big Apple as the pivot of the artistic and financial universe for the next 70 years, attracting tens of millions of visitors and residents, thus drawing in tens of billions in spending and taxes. This trend continues for more contemporary fairs, too. For Expo ’70 in Osaka, Japan, the Japanese spent about $2 billion (nearly $16 billion today), upgrading the city’s railways, highways, subway system, and airport as well adding a cutting-edge telecommunications network. These changes helped usher in an era of world-dominated economic growth for the Asian superpower. After Spokane, WA, transformed a section of rotting railyards to stage Expo ’74 there, it turned the area after the fair into Riverfront Park, and repurposed the Washington state pavilion into a combination convention center and performing arts center. Analysts believe that over the next few years after the fair closed, these and other expo-related improvements brought in at least $150 million to the city. New Orleans, whose 1984 Louisiana World Exposition actually went bankrupt during its run, ultimately profited from the improvements to the Warehouse District and lower Central Business District. Building the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the Riverwalk for the fair sparked the construction of more hotels, museums, restaurants, residential real estate, and more in those formerly downtrodden neighborhoods that eventually generated $90 billion in revenues for the Crescent City. By looking at Expo 2010 as an investment, China generally and Shanghai specifically have seen similar long-term returns. While experts such as Chen Xin-kang, a Shanghai University professor of finance and economics, estimated Expo 2010 Would generate $35 billion in its six-month run, the true pay off will be its long-term economic benefits. Indeed, Shanghai’s estimated $45 billion infrastructure expenditure (not counting the expo itself, which ran China another $5 billion), including public transportation, airports, and roads, could benefit the country with a 10-fold return from corporate investment alone, according to Lu Hongjun, president of the Shanghai Institute of International Finance. Along with China’s development of the two square miles of the Expo grounds for private and commercial real estate, these general enhancements help the country sustain its blistering economic pace. Expo 2020 Dubai’s long-term investment in the future of the country was reflected in the fair’s economic aftermath. Costing the emirate about $9 billion, the Expo will boost its economy by $33.4 billion by 2031 and $42 billion by 2042. Interestingly, Expo 2020 Dubai helped propel the United Arab Emirates itself (of which Dubai is part) into the top 10 of the Global Soft Power Index 2023, accounting for 61.2 percent of the country’s 3.2-point gain. The UAE jumped five places in the Index, its new position in the Index resulting in its Nation Brand Value growing from $773 billion in 2022 to $957 billion in 2023. What did it cost to produce Expo 2025?
Late last year the Expo Association running the Osaka event said the total construction cost of the venue would be 235 billion yen ($1.6 billion), or about the size of the economy of Grenada. It was also nearly twice the estimate back when Osaka won its bid to host the event in 2018.
Another estimate for infrastructure-development costs to support the fair came in at 839 billion yen (around $5.6 billion.) Sharing these costs are the national government; Osaka prefecture, and city; and the business community. Osaka residents will likely bear the heaviest tax burden, at 19,000 yen per person, according to one valuation. What is the potential financial impact of the World Expo on Osaka?
The Resona Research Institute predicts that spending related to Expo 2025 will reach 1 trillion yen, or roughly $6.6 billion. This projection includes fees for tickets and transportation, and spending outside the site, including on accommodation, restaurants and travel to nearby areas. That suggest the costs and revenues will be about even.
However, a more liberal government estimate suggests the economic impact of the Osaka World Expo would crest at about 2.9 trillion yen ($19.3 billion). That would align with the hopes that the Expo, which will be held for six months from April to October, will help spur a regional economic revitalization. How do world expos make money during the fairs themselves?
In “The Expo Book,” Gordon Linden and Paul Creighton break down the sources of a world’s fair income. The result is a fascinating look at expo economics. The vast majority — 61 percent, in fact — of their income stems from paid admissions. That’s why, when these fairs fail to draw enough attendees — such as Expo 2000 in Hanover Germany, whose attendance of 18 million barely reached 45 percent of the projected 40 million — the results can be financially catastrophic: the sparse turnout helped the Hanover fair end up with a $1.1 billion deficit.
Not only do paid admissions represent the lion’s share of revenues, but they also account for almost 2.5 times as much money as the next four largest sources of income for fairs combined: The remaining 15 percent of expo income is generated by a smattering of other sources, including guidebook sales, corporate sponsorships, product licensing, and guided tours of the expo grounds.
Can exhibitors at Expo 2025 serve food?
Yes. The governing body for world’s fairs, the Paris-headquartered Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), permits pavilions to use up to 20 percent of their space for commercial purposes, which includes serving food. This allows exhibitors to help continue the tasty tradition of world’s fairs as a foodie’s paradise, where treats from Cracker Jacks to Belgian waffles were introduced to the palates of millions. Accordingly, many of the participating countries, organizations, and corporations offer dining facilities of some kind that range from gourmet to gut bomb. This follows a tradition established in the second year of Chicago’s 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition, when several countries, envious of the popularity Belgium enjoyed by serving up its cuisine, followed suit with restaurants reproducing their own indigenous dishes.
What kinds of foods will be available at Expo 2025?
The Osaka Expo offers as many types of cuisines as there are countries in the world. The German pavilion will serve up Berlin-style curry sausage and Westphalian specialties like beef stew at the pavilion’s restaurant. The Czech pavilion has an ambitious goal of housing the largest Czech restaurant in the world, planning to serve up to 2,000 meals and 5,000 beers each day, like dumplings paired with freshly tapped Pilsner Urquell. Located on top of the Swiss pavilion, the Heidi Café dishes out everything from Swiss-style hot dogs, Chicken Katsu "Cordon Bleu," and Alpine Macaroni & Cheese to Raspberry & Hojicha Mousse Cake, triple chocolate mousse, and a sour cherry cake-style iced drink. Le Bistro, at the French pavilion, will showcase exceptional French wines from 78 Alsatian estates, rotating them every 15 days. Famished attendees can feast on traditional Hungarian dishes at Miska Kitchen & Bar such as goulash paired with Hungarian wines and pálinka (fruit brandy) in that country’s pavilion. Chicken rice, chilli crab, and laksa, a spicy noodle dish based on coconut milk, are featured at Siok! in the Singapore pavilion. Meanwhile, Belgian fries and Belgian waffles will be among the savory and sweet offerings in Belgium’s building.
Standalone restaurants proliferate throughout the Expo site, too. The Spy×Family Dining Food Truck provides foods inspired by anime characters. Looking like a Munich beer hall, the Paulaner Immbis restaurant supplies German fare, including bratwurst, eisbein (pork knuckle), and Oktoberfest beers. Sofra dishes up Ottoman-era royal cuisine prepared by Turkish chefs while Saigon Yatai focuses on fresh herbs, vegetables, and seafood in popular Vietnamese street-food dishes like pho and spring rolls. Authentic Korean cold noodles, prepared by a Korean cold-noodle master, are on the menu at Gyeongbokgung. Panaf divides the African continent into six sections: five geographic regions (north, west, central, etc.) plus the diaspora (that is, African residents who live overseas), alternating dishes from the various sections monthly. Kura Sushi Inc., a conveyor-belt sushi chain, opened the “Kura Sushi Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai,” with the planet’s longest conveyor sushi belt at approximately 443 feet (135 meters). That’s 1.5 NFL football fields. Its black-and-white exterior wall, inspired by a typical Japanese warehouse, is made from discarded seashells. If all those sound too mainstream, you can always taste-test Shunkado Ltd.’s Unagi Pie Gelato, which is made by placing an eel pie on top of ice cream. Confectionary maker Fujia opened its Fujiya Expo 2025 Store that puts forth its “shortcake of the future.” The most unusual restaurant at Expo 2025, though, may be the Maa Iika Cafe, located in the Kansai Pavilion, where individuals with dementia will be integrated into staff, showing that dignity need not always be a casualty of cognitive loss. |
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