List of world expositions

List of world expositions is an annotated list of every world exposition sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE), including those recognised retrospectively.

The designation "World Exposition" or "Expo" refers to a class of the largest, general scope exhibitions of 3 to 6 months' duration.

This list does not include BIE recognized International Horticultural Exhibitions. For other major international exhibitions, in addition to those endorsed by the BIE, see the comprehensive list of world's fairs.

List by date

Dates	Name of Exposition	Location[1]	Theme[2] or symbol[3]	Notables	Visitors in millions[4]	Cost in millions (USD unless specified)[4]	Area (ha)[4]	Attending countries
04/1851 – 10/1851	The Great Exhibition	London	Industry of all Nations	The Crystal Palace	6.00	1.65	10	25
05/1855 – 11/1855	Exhibition Universelle / Paris International	Paris	Agriculture, Industry and Art	Palais d'Industrie Bordeaux Wine classification	5.00	2	15	25
05/1862 – 11/1862	International Exhibition	London	Industry and Arts		6.00	2	15	39
04/1867 – 11/1867	Exposition Universelle / Paris International	Paris	Agriculture, Industry and Arts	Champ de Mars	15.00	4.5	69	42
05/1873 – 10/1873	Weltausstellung 1873 Wien / Austrian International Exposition	Vienna	Culture and Education	Rotunde	7.25	9.5	233	35
05/1876 – 11/1876	Centennial Exposition	Philadelphia	American Independence	Centennial Arboretum Telephone Heinz Ketchup	10.00	8	115	35
05/1878 – 11/1878	Exposition Universelle / Paris International Exposition	Paris	Agriculture, Arts and Industry	Statue of Liberty Telephone Braille	16.00	11	75	36
09/1879 – 04/1880	Sydney International Exhibition	Sydney	Agriculture, Arts and Industry	The Garden Palace, Steam trams	1.1
10/1880 – 04/1881	Melbourne International Exhibition	Melbourne	Arts, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Industry	Royal Exhibition Buildings & Carlton Gardens	1.30	1.6	25	33
04/1888 – 12/1888	Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888)	Barcelona	Arts and Industry	Arc de Triomf Columbus Monument	2.30	1.7	47	30
05/1889 – 10/1889	Exposition Universelle / Paris International Exposition	Paris	French Revolution	Eiffel Tower Annie Oakley	32.00	0.3	96	35
05/1893 – 10/1893	World's Columbian Exposition	Chicago	Discovery of America	Midway Plaisance Fine Arts Building Fluorescent lamp Ferris wheel	27.50	27	290	19
05/1897 – 11/1897	Brussels International Exposition	Brussels	Automobiles		7.80		132	27
04/1900 – 11/1900	Paris International	Paris	Evaluation of a Century	Motion Pictures Escalator Summer Olympics	50.80	18.75	120	58
05/1901 – 11/1901	Pan-American Exposition	Buffalo	Commercial well being and good understanding among the American Republics.	Outdoor lighting Assassination of William McKinley X-ray machine	8.00	7.0	141
04/1904 – 12/1904	Louisiana Purchase	St. Louis	Louisiana Purchase	Forest Park Palace of Fine Art Vulcan statue In conjunction with Summer Olympics	19.69	31.5	515	63
04/1905 – 11/1905	Liège International (1905)	Liège	Belgian Independence		7.00	2.9	70	31
04/1906 – 11/1906	Milan International	Milan	Transport	Electric Tramways	10.00	2.6	100	25
04/1907 – 12/1907	Jamestown Exposition	Norfolk	300th Anniversary of Jamestown's settlement	Railroad exhibits	2.851	2.5	400
05/1907 – 11/1907	Irish International Exhibition	Dublin			2.75[5]			39
06/1909 – 10/1909	Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition	Seattle	Development of the Pacific Northwest	Forestry cabin	10.00	3.7	100
04/1910 – 11/1910	Brussels International Exhibition	Brussels	Industries		13.00	3.5	90
04/1911 – 11/1911	Turin International	Turin	International Exposition of Industry and Labor		4		247 acres[6]	30
04/1913 – 11/1913	Exposition universelle et international / Ghent International Exposition	Ghent		Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station	9.50	3.3	130	26
02/1915 – 12/1915	Panama–Pacific International Exposition	San Francisco	Inauguration of the Panama Canal	Tower of Jewels Palace of Fine Arts	19.00	25.8	254	32
03/1915 – 01/1917	Panama–California Exposition	San Diego	Celebrating the Opening of the Panama Canal	California Quadrangle Cabrillo Bridge Spreckels Organ Pavilion	3.7			32
07/1922 – 02/1923	Independence Centenary International Exposition	Rio de Janeiro	Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Brazil's independence.	Nations' Avenue	3.00			14
05/1929 – 06/1930	Ibero-American Exposition	Seville		Plaza de España (Seville)				17
05/1929 – 01/1930	Barcelona International Exposition	Barcelona	Arts and Industry	Barcelona Pavilion Palau Nacional Montjuïc Stadium		25	118
05/1933 – 11/1933	Century of Progress	Chicago	A Century of Progress	Sky Ride Graf Zeppelin Homes of Tomorrow	48.60	42.9	170	19
04/1935 – 11/1935	Brussels International Exposition	Brussels	Transports, Colonisation		20.00	197 BEF	152	30
05/1937 – 11/1937	Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne / Paris International Exposition	Paris	Arts and Technology in modern life	Arc de Triomphe	31.00	1,400 FRF	105	44
04/1939 – 10/1940	New York World's Fair	New York	Building The World of Tomorrow	Flushing Park Bell Labs' Voder Magna Carta 1st World Science Fiction Convention	45.00[7]	155[8]	500	60
12/1949 – 06/1950	Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince	Port-au-Prince	Anniversary of foundation of Port-au-Prince	Gulf of Gonâve		1	30
07/1958 – 09/1958	Brussels World's Fair	Brussels	A More Human World	Heysel Atomium	41.00	2,500 BEF	200	42
04/1962 – 10/1962	Century 21 Exposition	Seattle	Man in the Space Age	Seattle Center Space Needle Seattle Monorail	9.60[9]	47[9]	30	24
04/1964 – 10/1965	New York World's Fair	New York	Peace Through Understanding (Dedicated to Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe)	Unisphere Audio-Animatronics	51.61		262	58
04/1967 – 10/1967	Expo '67	Montreal	Man and His World	Montreal Metro Habitat '67 Montreal Biosphère	50.00	431 CAD	365	62
04/1968 – 10/1968	HemisFair '68	San Antonio	Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas	Tower of the Americas Institute of Texan Cultures HemisFair Arena	6.40[10]	156[10]	37.64[10]	23
03/1970 – 09/1970	Expo '70	Osaka	Progress and Harmony for Mankind	Tower of the Sun Moon rock Electric Cars[11]	64.2	30 Profit[11]	329.82[11]	75
05/1974 – 11/1974	Expo '74	Spokane	Tomorrow's Fresh New Environment	IMAX[12]	4.80	78.4	41[12]	11
05/1982 – 10/1982	1982 World's Fair	Knoxville	Energy Turns the World	Sunsphere	11.00	42[13]	30[13]	21
05/1984 – 11/1984	1984 World's Fair	New Orleans	The World of Rivers	Convention Center	7.30	350	33.99[14]	26
03/1985 – 09/1985	1985 World's Fair	Tsukuba	Dwellings and Surroundings – Science and Technology for Man at Home		20.3	100[15]		111
05/1986 – 10/1986	Expo '86	Vancouver	Transportation and Communication	Science World Skytrain BC Place Canada Place	22.11	311 CAD deficit	70	54
04/1988 – 10/1988	Expo '88	Brisbane	Leisure in the Age of Technology	Sunsails, Skyneedle	18.00	625 AUD	40	36
04/1992 – 10/1992	Expo '92	Seville	The Era of Discovery	Puente del Alamillo	41.80		215	108
05/1992 – 08/1992	Expo Colombo '92	Genoa	Christopher Columbus, The Ship and the Sea	Aquarium of Genoa	1.7			108
08/1993 – 11/1993	Expo '93	Daejeon	The Challenge of a New Road of Development	Expo Science Park, Daejeon Museum of Art	14.50		25	108
05/1998 – 09/1998	Expo '98	Lisbon	The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future	Pavilhão Atlântico Lisbon Oceanarium Pavilion of Portugal	11.00		70	146
06/2000 – 10/2000	Expo 2000	Hanover	Humankind, Nature, Technology	Hannover Principles	18.00	3,400 DEM[16][17]	160	155
03/2005 – 09/2005	Expo 2005	Aichi	Nature's Wisdom	Satsuki and Mei's House ASIMO The Frozen Mammoth	22.04		173	121
06/2008 – 09/2008	Expo 2008	Zaragoza	Water and Sustainable development	Bridge Pavilion Water Tower	5.650			104
05/2010 – 10/2010	Expo 2010	Shanghai	Better City, Better Life	Expo Axis Oriental Crown (Currently China Art Museum, Shanghai)	73.08	4,200 (5,800 including infrastructure)[18]	528	192
05/2012 – 08/2012	Expo 2012	Yeosu	The Living Ocean and Coast	The Big-O[19] The Sky Tower[20]	8.20	176.9	25	103
05/2015 – 10/2015	Expo 2015	Milan	Feeding the planet, energy for life	The Tree of Life	22.2		200	145

ASIMO at Expo 2005 in Japan.

Planned expositions

Date[1]	Location[1]	Name of Exposition	Theme[2] or symbol[3]
2017	Astana	Expo 2017	Energy of the Future
2020	Dubai[21]	Expo 2020	Connecting Minds, Creating the Future

Proposed expositions

• Expo 2022 or 2023 Copenhagen^[22] / Newcastle / Minnesota bid ^[23] (A bid from the Canary Islands now looks unlikely ^[24])
• 2025 Houston^[25] / London^[26] / Paris^[27] / Rotterdam^[28] / San Francisco

List by country

Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851.

The statue of the Republic overlooks the Court of Honor and Grand Basin of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago

World Expo '88 Sunsails Logo

Expo 2010 in Shanghai, 2010. The largest expo in history.

Country	City	Name of Exposition	Attending Countries	Year
Australia	Sydney Melbourne Brisbane	Sydney International Melbourne International World Expo 88	33 36	1879 1880 1988
Austria (formerly Austria-Hungary)	Vienna	Austrian International	35	1873
Belgium	Brussels Ghent Liège	Brussels International Brussels International Brussels International Brussels World's Fair Ghent International Liège International	27 30 42 26 31	1897 1910 1935 1958 1913 1905
Brazil	Rio de Janeiro	Independence Centenary International Exposition	14	1922-23
Canada	Montreal Vancouver	Expo 67 Expo 86	62 54	1967 1986
China	Shanghai	Expo 2010	192	2010
France	Paris	Paris International Paris International Paris International Paris International Paris International Paris International	25 42 36 35 58 44	1855 1867 1878 1889 1900 1937
Germany	Hanover	Expo 2000	155	2000
Haiti	Port-au-Prince	Exposition internationale du bicentenaire de Port-au-Prince		1949-1950
Italy	Genoa Milan Turin	Expo Colombo '92 Milan International Expo 2015 Turin International	54 25 30	1992 1906 2015 1911
Japan	Aichi Tsukuba Okinawa Osaka	Expo 2005 Expo '85 Expo '75 Expo '70	121 111 40 75	2005 1985 1975 1970
Kazakhstan	Astana	Expo 2017		2017
Portugal	Lisbon	Expo '98	146	1998
South Korea	Daejeon Yeosu	Expo '93 Expo 2012	108 103	19932012
Spain	Barcelona     Seville Zaragoza	Exposición Universal de Barcelona (1888) Barcelona International Seville Expo '92 Expo Zaragoza 2008	30 20 108 104	1888 1929 1992 2008
United Arab Emirates	Dubai[21]	Expo 2020		2020
United Kingdom	Dublin London	Irish International Exhibition The Great Exhibition International	39 25 39	1907 1851 1862
United States	Buffalo Chicago   Knoxville New Orleans New York City   Philadelphia San Antonio San Francisco Seattle     Spokane St. Louis	Pan-American Exposition World's Columbian Century of Progress 1982 World's Fair 1984 World's fair New York World's Fair New York World's Fair Centennial Exposition HemisFair '68 Panama-Pacific Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition Century 21 Exposition Expo '74 Louisiana Purchase	19 21 21 26 60 58 35 23 32 24 11[29] 63	1901[30] 1893 1933 1982 1984 1939 1964 1876 1968 1915 1909 1962 1974 1904

References

1. "list of International Exhibitions". International Exhibitions Bureau. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
2. "ExpoMuseum". Retrieved 2006-07-16.
3. "Symbols". International Exhibitions Bureau. Retrieved 2006-07-16.
4. "BIE homepage". International Exhibitions Bureau. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
5. Findling, John E; Pelle, Kimberley D (eds.). Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
6. Harman A LIST OF WORLD EXHIBITIONS retrieved 30 December 2010
7. "Statistics of previous World Expositions". Retrieved 2006-07-17.
8. "NY 1939 facts". Retrieved 2006-07-18.
9. "Seattlea facts". Retrieved 2006-07-17.
10. "San Antonio facts". Retrieved 2006-07-21.
11. "Osaka facts". Retrieved 2006-07-17.
12. "Spokane facts". Retrieved 2006-07-21.
13. "Knoxville facts". Retrieved 2006-07-21.
14. "New Orleans facts". Retrieved 2006-07-21.
15. "Tsukuba facts". Retrieved 2006-12-28.
16. "Nachrichten". BerlinOnline.de. 2013-09-19. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
17. Wir Sind Helden. Das EXPO- Buch. Offizieller Katalog zur EXPO 2000 mit CD- ROM: Amazon.de: Birgit Breuel: Bücher. Amazon.de. ASIN 3570003434.
18. The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042703073.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
19. "The Big-O".
20. "The Sky Tower".
21. "The UAE has been elected As the Host Country of the World Expo 2020". Retrieved 27 November 2013.
22. "2020cities: Danish capital aims for Expo 2022". Retrieved April 29, 2015.
23. "Minnesota World's Fair / Bring the World to Minnesota". Minnesotaworldsfair.org. Retrieved 2014-03-05.
24. "ExpoBids.com / Bids for Expo 2022 or Expo 2023". Retrieved May 17, 2015.
25. "Expo 2025 – the next American World's Fair". Retrieved April 6, 2014.
26. "FUTURE LONDON 2025 – London's 2025 Expo Bid". Retrieved April 6, 2015.
27. "Expo France 2025". Retrieved April 7, 2015.
28. http://rotterdam2025.nl/en/
29. "Spokane facts". Retrieved 2006-07-21.
30. Finding and Pelle, Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions, ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9 p415

See also

• List of world's fairs
• Colonial exhibition
• Human zoo