--- title: Order of Countries in Olympics Opening Ceremony description: Many social media users observing the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics seemed slightly confused by the order of events. canonical: https://time.com/5141561/order-countries-marched-in-at-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-10T01:01:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:29.156Z og:title: The Order That Countries Marched in at the Opening Ceremony og:description: People seemed slightly confused by the order of events. Here's why og:url: https://time.com/5141561/order-countries-marched-in-at-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf18729c459eda703/698926e97cdbacb14bd5be66/gettyimages-9161987521.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3215 og:image:height: 1808 og:image:alt: 2018-winter-olympics og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Order That Countries Marched in at the Opening Ceremony twitter:description: People seemed slightly confused by the order of events. Here's why twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf18729c459eda703/698926e97cdbacb14bd5be66/gettyimages-9161987521.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is the Order That Countries Marched in at the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 10, 2018 1:01 AM UTC  Team USA is seen during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea on Feb. 9. Team USA is seen during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea on Feb. 9. Ian MacNicol—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 10, 2018 1:01 AM UTC The broadcast of the peace-themed [Opening Ceremony](http://time.com/5141563/gangnam-style-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony-2018/) of the highly-anticipated 2018 Winter Olympics in [PyeongChang, South Korea](http://time.com/5070315/winter-olympics-2018-location/) officially kicked off Friday at 8 p.m. local time. Around 3,000 athletes from 92 countries and territories braced frightful temperatures as they marched into the new PyeongChang Olympic Stadium under their country’s flag during the Parade of Nations – as per Olympic tradition. [North and South Korea](http://time.com/5124373/north-korea-cancel-south-olympics-event/) made history when they marched [together under a single flag](http://time.com/5105667/north-and-south-koreas-olympic-teams-will-march-under-the-same-flag-at-opening-ceremony/), as musicians performed John Lennon’s iconic hit “Imagine.” But many social media users observing the ceremony seemed slightly confused by the order of events. “What is the order of the countries coming out in the opening ceremony? It’s not alphabetical?” wrote one Twitter user. “Weird opening ceremony. Don’t know how they’ve determined the order of countries. Not alphabetical just muddled up,” added another. In fact, the order that the countries marched in _was_ alphabetic – but following the Korean alphabet known as Hangeul, as opposed to the English alphabet. That is why, by way of example, Denmark followed New Zealand, Iran followed Ukraine and Bermuda followed the United States of America. That said, there are two exceptions to the rule. Firstly, an Olympic Opening Ceremony parade _always_ begins with Greece, in honor of where the games originate from, and the host nation always goes last. This time, both North and South Korea appeared at the conclusion of the parade, as they were marching under the same flag. Here’s the full order that countries marched in at the 2018 Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics: 1\. Greece 2\. Ghana 3\. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 4\. Nigeria 5\. South Africa 6\. Netherlands 7\. Norway 8\. New Zealand 9\. Denmark 10\. Germany 11\. Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste 12\. Latvia 13\. Olympic Athletes from Russia 14\. Lebanon 15\. Romania 16\. Luxembourg 17\. Lithuania 18\. Liechtenstein 19\. Madagascar 20\. Malaysia 21\. Mexico 22\. Monaco 23\. Morocco 24\. Montenegro 25\. Republic of Moldova 26\. Malta 27\. Mongolia 28\. United States of America 29\. Bermuda 30\. Belgium 31\. Belarus 32\. Bosnia and Herzegovina 33\. Bolivia 34\. Bulgaria 35\. Brazil 36\. San Marino 37\. Serbia 38\. Sweden 39\. Switzerland 40\. Spain 41\. Slovakia 42\. Slovenia 43\. Singapore 44\. Armenia 45\. Argentina 46\. Iceland 47\. Ireland 48\. Azerbaijan 49\. Andorra 50\. Albania 51\. Eritrea 52\. Estonia 53\. Ecuador 54\. Great Britain 55\. Australia 56\. Austria 57\. Uzbekistan 58\. Ukraine 59\. Islamic Republic of Iran 60\. Israel 61\. Italy 62\. India 63\. Japan 64\. Jamaica 65\. Georgia 66\. People’s Republic of China 67\. Chinese Taipei 68\. Czech Republic 69\. Chile 70\. Kazakhstan 71\. Canada 72\. Kenya 73\. Kosovo 74\. Colombia 75\. Croatia 76\. Kyrgyzstan 77\. Cyprus 78\. Thailand 79\. Turkey 80\. Togo 81\. Tonga 82\. Pakistan 83\. Portugal 84\. Poland 85\. Puerto Rico 86\. France 87\. Finland 88\. Philippines 89\. Hungary 90\. Hong Kong, China 91\. 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