Asia
South Korea
Capital: Seoul
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The white background represents a peace-loving people; the taegeuk (yin-yang) symbol in the center represents the harmony between eum (blue, yin) and yang (red); the four trigrams (geon, gon, gam, ri) at the corners represent heaven, earth, water, and fire.
North Korea
Capital: Pyongyang
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Officially, the red star symbolizes socialist revolution, the red stripe revolutionary spirit, the blue stripes peace, and the white borders purity.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A single red circle on a white background represents the sun. Japan's own name, Nihon, literally means "the origin of the sun" — the land of the rising sun.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The red background symbolizes revolution; the large star represents the Communist Party of China, and the four smaller stars around it represent the workers, peasants, urban petty bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie — together symbolizing the great unity of the people under the Party's leadership.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The white sun on a blue field represents liberty and equality, while the red field symbolizes the blood and fraternity of revolutionary martyrs; the sun's 12 rays represent the 12 months and the 12 traditional two-hour periods of the day.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Saffron represents courage and sacrifice, white represents truth and peace, and green represents faith and prosperity; the blue wheel (Ashoka Chakra) in the center represents continuous progress and the wheel of dharma.
Pakistan
Capital: Islamabad
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green represents Islam, the white vertical stripe represents minority religious communities, and the crescent and star symbolize progress and light.
Indonesia
Capital: Jakarta
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A simple bicolor flag in which red symbolizes courage and freedom and white symbolizes purity and justice; it shares the same color arrangement as Monaco's flag but is distinguished by its aspect ratio.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes the nation and its people, white symbolizes Buddhism (purity), and the thick blue band in the center symbolizes the monarchy — the five stripes together represent the three pillars that support Thailand: nation, religion, and monarchy.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The red field symbolizes the blood of revolution and the nation, and the yellow star symbolizes the great unity of workers, peasants, intellectuals, soldiers, and youth under the leadership of the Communist Party.
Philippines
Capital: Manila
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Blue symbolizes peace and justice, red symbolizes patriotism and courage, and the sun and three stars in the white triangle represent independence and the three main regions (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao). The flag is flown upside down, with red on top, in times of war.
Malaysia
Capital: Kuala Lumpur
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The 14 red-and-white stripes represent the 13 states and the federal government, and the crescent and 14-pointed star on the blue field symbolize Islam and national unity.
Singapore
Capital: Singapore
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes universal brotherhood and equality, white symbolizes purity and virtue, the crescent moon represents a young nation's rise, and the five stars represent democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality.
Mongolia
Capital: Ulaanbaatar
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes victory and prosperity, and blue symbolizes the eternal sky; the Soyombo symbol on the left is Mongolia's traditional national emblem, combining fire, the sun, the moon, triangles, and the yin-yang symbol.
Kazakhstan
Capital: Astana
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Sky blue represents the tradition and peace of the steppe's nomadic peoples, and the sun and eagle in the center symbolize freedom and flight toward the future.
Saudi Arabia
Capital: Riyadh
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes Islam, and the white inscription (the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith) and sword symbolize the Islamic faith and the defense of justice. Because it bears a sacred text, the flag is, by convention, never flown at half-mast.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes Islam and growth, white symbolizes peace, and red symbolizes courage and martyrdom; the emblem in the center is a stylized rendering of the word "Allah" combined with a sword.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The white field and blue stripes are drawn from the traditional Jewish prayer shawl (tallit), and the Star of David in the center is a symbol of the Jewish people.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The red field is a traditional color carried over from the Ottoman Empire, and the crescent and star are symbols widely used across the Islamic world.
United Arab Emirates
Capital: Abu Dhabi
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes unity, green symbolizes fertile land, white symbolizes purity, and black symbolizes oil resources — together forming the pan-Arab colors.
Europe
United Kingdom
Capital: London
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The Union Jack overlays St. George's Cross of England (red), the diagonal St. Andrew's Cross of Scotland (blue field), and the diagonal St. Patrick's Cross of Ireland (white field, red diagonal), symbolizing the union of the nations that make up the United Kingdom.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The blue-white-red tricolor is widely said to symbolize the ideals of the French Revolution: liberty (blue), equality (white), and fraternity (red).
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The black-red-gold tricolor is said to originate from the uniforms of the volunteer corps that fought against Napoleon in the 19th century (black coats with red trim and gold buttons), later becoming established as a symbol of German unity and freedom.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes the land and hope, white symbolizes the snow of the Alps and faith, and red symbolizes the blood shed by patriots — a tricolor created under the influence of the French tricolor of the Napoleonic era.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Thick horizontal bands of red-yellow-red, with the coat of arms on the left combining the emblems of the kingdoms that once made up Spain: Castile, León, Aragón, Navarre, and Granada.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes hope, and red symbolizes revolution and the blood shed in building the new nation; the armillary sphere in the emblem represents the navigational skill of the Age of Discovery, and the five small shields represent victory over five Moorish kings.
Netherlands
Capital: Amsterdam
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A red-white-blue tricolor, considered one of the oldest tricolors in the world; it was originally orange, symbolizing the House of Orange, but was changed to the more visible red around the 17th century.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The blue and yellow colors derive from the coat of arms of the Swedish royal family, and the cross is the Scandinavian cross shared by the Nordic countries' Christian tradition.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Created by adding the blue of the freedom ideals of the French Revolutionary era to the Danish flag (a white cross on red), it embodies both Norway's long history and its aspiration toward freedom.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A white cross on a red field — one of the few square national flags in the world, and a traditional emblem of the long-established Swiss Confederation.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A bicolor flag in which white symbolizes purity and Poland's symbol, the white eagle, and red symbolizes the blood of patriots.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A bicolor flag in which blue symbolizes the sky and yellow symbolizes the vast wheat fields, capturing the landscape of Ukraine, often called the breadbasket of Europe.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A tricolor in which white symbolizes nobility and frankness, blue symbolizes honesty and devotion, and red symbolizes love and courage; it is said that Peter the Great introduced it after being inspired by the flag of the Netherlands.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The nine blue-and-white stripes are said to represent the number of syllables in the Greek phrase for independence ("Freedom or Death"), and the white cross on the blue field symbolizes the Greek Orthodox faith.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The red-white-red tricolor is one of the oldest national emblems in the world; legend has it that it originated during a 12th–13th century Crusade battle, when a knight's white sash remained the only part of his coat not stained red with blood.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
White symbolizes the snow-covered land, and blue symbolizes the countless lakes and the sky — a flag in the Scandinavian cross form.
Denmark
Capital: Copenhagen
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Known as the Dannebrog, it is considered the oldest continuously used national flag in Europe. Legend holds that it fell from the sky during a battle in 1219, and it later became the prototype for the flags of several other Nordic countries.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes the Catholic and Gaelic tradition, orange symbolizes the Protestant tradition, and the white in the center symbolizes peace and harmony between the two communities.
Czech Republic
Capital: Prague
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
White and red are the colors of the old Kingdom of Bohemia's coat of arms; the blue triangle is a holdover from the flag adopted for Czechoslovakia, originally representing Slovakia, which the Czech Republic retained even after the two countries separated.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Black, yellow, and red derive from the coat of arms of the old Duchy of Brabant (a yellow lion with red claws on a black field).
Iceland
Capital: Reykjavík
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Blue symbolizes the Atlantic Ocean, white symbolizes glaciers and snow, and red symbolizes volcanic fire — capturing the nature of Iceland, the land of ice and fire.
Africa
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes the struggle before the revolution, white symbolizes the bright future ushered in by the 1952 revolution, and black symbolizes the oppressive past; the Eagle of Saladin in the center represents Arab unity and freedom.
South Africa
Capital: Pretoria
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Adopted after the abolition of apartheid, the flag's convergence of multiple colors into a Y-shape symbolizes the coming together of diverse races and cultures into a single "rainbow nation."
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
A tricolor in which green symbolizes agriculture and the nation's fertile land, and white symbolizes peace and unity.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Black symbolizes the people, red symbolizes the blood shed for independence, and green symbolizes the land and natural resources; the traditional Maasai shield and spears in the center represent the determination to defend freedom.
Ethiopia
Capital: Addis Ababa
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green, yellow, and red are considered the original Pan-African colors; green symbolizes the land and hope, yellow symbolizes peace and justice, and red symbolizes strength and faith. This color combination has influenced the flags of many other African nations.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes the blood of the independence struggle, yellow symbolizes mineral wealth, green symbolizes forests and agriculture, and the black star in the center symbolizes the lodestar of African liberation.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes the Alaouite dynasty and the nation's bravery, and the green pentagram (Seal of Solomon) symbolizes the five pillars of Islamic faith along with wisdom, health, and peace.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes Islam, white symbolizes purity and peace, and the red crescent and star symbolize the Islamic faith and the struggle for freedom.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes the land, yellow symbolizes mineral resources, black symbolizes the people, and blue symbolizes the Indian Ocean and the nation's lakes.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes Islam and hope, yellow symbolizes wealth and prosperity, and red symbolizes the sacrifices made for independence; the green star in the center represents African unity and the Islamic faith.
Americas
United States
Capital: Washington, D.C.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The 13 red-and-white stripes represent the original 13 states at independence, and the 50 stars on the blue field represent today's 50 states — a flag whose stars have been added to throughout history as new states joined the union.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes sacrifice and courage, and the maple leaf in the center depicts the sugar maple tree native across Canada, a symbol that has long represented the country.
Mexico
Capital: Mexico City
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes hope, white symbolizes purity and the Catholic faith, and red symbolizes the blood shed for independence; the emblem in the center depicts an eagle devouring a serpent atop a cactus, from the Aztec founding legend.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Green symbolizes the House of Braganza, and the yellow rhombus symbolizes the House of Habsburg; the stars within the blue circle depict the actual arrangement of the night sky over Rio de Janeiro on the day the republic was proclaimed (November 15, 1889).
Argentina
Capital: Buenos Aires
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Light blue symbolizes the clear sky, and white symbolizes the snow of the Andes; the 'Sun of May' in the center commemorates the May Revolution of 1810, which began the independence movement.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
White symbolizes the snow of the Andes, red symbolizes the blood of the struggle for independence, and blue symbolizes the sky; the white star symbolizes a guide toward progress and honor.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red and white are said to derive from the traditional colors of the Inca Empire; the version with the coat of arms is used for official occasions, while the plain striped version is used by the public.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Yellow symbolizes the nation's wealth and gold, blue symbolizes the two oceans (Pacific and Atlantic), and red symbolizes the blood shed for independence — notably, the yellow band is drawn wider than the other two colors.
Venezuela
Capital: Caracas
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Yellow, blue, and red are colors shared with Colombia and Ecuador, inherited from the former Gran Colombia; the eight stars symbolize the eight provinces that took part in the declaration of independence.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The blue stripes represent the three regions that made up Cuba at the time of independence, the white stripes represent the purity of the independence movement's resolve, the red triangle represents liberty, equality, and fraternity, and the white star represents independence.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Yellow, blue, and red are shared heritage from Gran Colombia, together with Colombia and Venezuela; the condor in the coat of arms at the center symbolizes the nation's strength and sovereignty.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes the blood of brave soldiers, yellow symbolizes mineral resources, and green symbolizes the fertility of the land.
Panama
Capital: Panama City
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
White symbolizes peace, blue symbolizes the conservative faction, and red symbolizes the liberal faction; the two stars represent the national ideals of honesty and diligence.
Costa Rica
Capital: San José
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The thick red band in the center symbolizes civilization and love; the coat of arms of Costa Rica, well known as a peaceful nation without a standing army, depicts its land and volcanoes lying between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Black symbolizes the hardships the people have endured and the strength to overcome them, yellow symbolizes the nation's natural resources and sunshine, and green symbolizes hope and agriculture.
Oceania
Australia
Capital: Canberra
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The Union Jack in the upper-left corner represents the historical ties to the British Commonwealth, the large white Commonwealth Star represents the six states and territories, and the Southern Cross on the right represents the nation's geographic identity in the southern hemisphere.
New Zealand
Capital: Wellington
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Like Australia's flag, it features the Union Jack together with the Southern Cross, making the two flags look very similar at a glance — but New Zealand's Southern Cross stars are red, and there are four of them.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
The light blue field symbolizes the Pacific Ocean, and the shield on the right depicts sugar cane, palm trees, doves, and other images representing Fiji's nature and industries.
Papua New Guinea
Capital: Port Moresby
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red and black are colors commonly used in traditional clothing and art, and the yellow bird-of-paradise is a vividly colored bird native to Papua New Guinea and a national symbol. The Southern Cross represents the country's location in the southern hemisphere.
Meaning of the flag's colors and symbols
Red symbolizes courage, white symbolizes purity, and the Southern Cross on the blue field symbolizes Samoa's location in the Pacific.