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International Participants

Provinces, Territories and States

Alberta	Northwest Territories	Oregon	Saskatchewan
British Columbia	Nova Scotia	Prince Edward Island	Washington State
California	Ontario	Quebec	Yukon Territory

Corporate Exhibits

Air Canada	BCTV	Canadian National	Pavilion of Promise
American Express	Canadian Pacific	General Motors of Canada	Telecom Canada

Theme Exhibits

Expo Centre	Great Hall of Ramses II	Folklife
Roundhouse	Special Images Holography	Million dollar Gold Coin

Entertainment Vanues

Kodak Pacific Bowl

Labatt's Expo Theatre

Xerox International Theatre

Rides

Scream Machine (Rollercoaster)	1907 Philadelphia Toboggan Co. Carousel	Minolta Space Tower
Looping Starship	Carabou Log Chute	Childrens Playground

So how does Vancouver Rate?

Expo 86 is considered a success story.   Despite a deficit of $311, 000, 000 (CAD) the British Columbian tax payer would have been stuck with a much larger bill if the attendance had not almost doubled from the original projected number of 13.7 million.  The legacy structures themselves are worth well more than the deficit.

To date, Expo 86 can boast the second highest attendance of any world's fair within the last 30 years and the highest attendance record for a Specialized/Category 2 fair since New York's fair in 1939.

At 70 hectares (173 acres) Expo 86 was part of a movement to bring the more economical Specialized fairs to a higher standard.  The focus was shifted away from bombastic architecture such as towers and monuments toward more conservative structures that could be reused in the future.

Then there is the human factor.  Expo 86 is considered the pivotal point in time where the locals began to see Vancouver as a "world class" city.   Many people believe that the World's Fair helped put Vancouver on the map and civic pride hit a new high with the new-found recognition from around the world.

World's Fair Statistics

UE = Universal Exposition -- usually the largest fairs in terms of acreage and International participants.  But most historical fairs before the 1930s are generally considered Universal Expositions regardless of the size.  The earliest Universal Expositions were housed in one large building.  Since the turn of the 20th century a UE is most often recognized by participating countries designing and building their own pavilions.  Also, a UE usually runs for a minimum 5 to six months.  The UE category was re-established in the early 1970s.
SE = Specialized Exposition -- Smaller in acreage than a UE.  International participants are not requested to design their own pavilion, but rather, are given space in existing structures provided by the host country.
GE = General Exposition --  Term given to all recognized fairs between the 30s and the early 70s.  The General Exposition could be either a category 1 (UE) or 2 (SE).  The term General Exposition was put in place to distinguish the difference between a World's Fair and a Horticultural or Agricultural fair.
Cat.  Category (1 and 2) -- The terms category 1 and category 2 can be interchanged with UE and SE, respectively.
NR = Not Recognized by the Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE).  In order to host a World's Fair, the fair in question must follow a set of basic rules.  The host country must be a member of the BIE, go through a bidding process similar to the Olympic Games, and win that bid for the particular year in order to be recognized.
A and B Fairs are terms used primarily by the media.  The BIE does not use A or B to describe a World's Fair category.

Note that the number of International participants does not always equal the total number of pavilions.  Some fairs, such as Seattle 62, housed many countries in a few buildings.  Hannover 2000 did the same with nations that wished to participate but could not or did not want to go through the expense of designing and building a detached structure.

Additionally, corporate pavilions have become increasingly popular over the years.  In some fairs, corporate pavilions outnumbered National pavilions, but corporate pavilions are not counted in most official records.  The number of International participants tabulated in the table above only include nations.  It does not include corporate, religious or theme pavilions.