It’s not just Americans who have an unhealthy attachment to McDonald’s.

Anyone who has traveled has found the golden arches in the unlikeliest of places. The McDonald’s on the Champs Elysees, in Paris, tops my list of “unlikely locations” for the brand.

But the French do not feast on McDonald’s. Not like people do in many other countries — and particularly the UAE.

Fast food of all sorts is wildly popular here. KFC is probably No. 1 in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi markets. But McDonald’s can’t be far behind.

I can think of two Mickey D’s franchises within two blocks of where we live, both of them attached to a filling station.

And the crowds in those places can be intense, especially in the middle of the evening, when many locals get around to eating dinner, and especially on holidays.

More than a few times have I seen people in kanduras or abayas come out of a McDonald’s, after sundown during Ramadan, carrying one of those enormous McDonald’s bags they use to tote enormous orders of food.

In today’s editions of The National, the business section reports on plans to open 11 new McDonald’s in the UAE, taking the number of McDonald’s outlets to 119.

And this in a country with about 8 million people.

The UAE has issues with obesity and adult-onset diabetes, and diets with too much reliance on fast food have been cited as a contributing factor.

And perhaps a bit creepy is that a spokesman for McDonald’s regional franchiser said some of the new stores will open in the northern emirates, which till now have had more mom-and-pop stores and restaurants, and fewer global chains.

Why would McDonald’s expand here?

Because it makes financial sense. The company’s revenues grew 13.8 percent in the Asia-Pacific/Middle East region over the past three years, McDonald’s reported, compared to 3.5 percent in the U.S. and 5.3 percent grown in Europe.

The taste for McDonald’s clearly is still climbing, around here.