Cola, Coke or Coca-Cola - whatever you prefer to call it - is a household name and enormously popular worldwide. There is no mistaking its classic red-and-white design, which helps us all recognise a can of the soft drink at a glance. In spite of its immense popularity, the beverage isn't officially available globally. Surprisingly, there are two countries where this beverage can't be found legally.
Continuous trade embargos and sanctions mean that there are no legal markets to purchase Coca-Cola in Cuba and North Korea. However, this doesn't mean that the soft drink can't be obtained in any other way, but just that it can't be legally imported or bottled in these regions. Myanmar was another country where Coke couldn't be bought legally, until the ban was lifted in 2012, and the beverage manufacturer invested a whopping $200 million in order to initialise distribution in the area.
Even though Coca-Cola claims to be distributed in 202 markets across four regions on their website, the number should be taken with a grain of salt. The company doesn't define what constitutes a market, and currently there as just 195 UN members, Taiwan being a possible 196th. A rewarding 75 per cent of the company's $33 billion operating revenue was generated from the beverage in 2020, with bottling investments and global ventures making up the remaining 25 per cent.
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