Browse Flags by Feature
Pick a symbol, color combination, or design pattern and see every national flag that uses it — with a short history of the feature.
Flags with Stars
85National flags that feature one or more stars — the single most common emblem in vexillology.
Red, White and Blue Flags
48The most common color combination in the world, used from the Netherlands and France to the United States.
Flags with a Coat of Arms
48Flags carrying a full national coat of arms — usually heavy with heraldic detail.
Horizontal Tricolor Flags
44Three horizontal bands — the most common national flag pattern in the world.
Flags with Animals
31From eagles to dragons, lions to birds-of-paradise — flags that put a creature front and center.
Flags with Crosses
23Flags built around a cross — the oldest continuously used emblem on European national flags.
Red and White Flags
23Two-color flags using only red and white — a tradition that runs from medieval Europe to East Asia.
Pan-African Color Flags
21Green, yellow and red from the flag of Ethiopia, and the red, black and green of the movement led by Marcus Garvey.
Flags with the Union Jack
19Commonwealth and overseas territory flags that retain the British Union Jack in the canton.
Flags with the Sun
18Suns of May, rising suns and rayed suns of independence, on flags in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Pacific.
Flags with a Crescent Moon
16The crescent and star is widely associated with Islam and the legacy of the Ottoman Empire.
Vertical Tricolor Flags
16Three vertical bands of color — a republican design language born of the French Revolution.
Green, White and Red Flags
14From Italy to Mexico to the Pan-Arab world — a triad that recurs across very different histories.
Pan-Arab Color Flags
11Black, white, green and red — the colors of the 1916 Arab Revolt, still flown across the Arab world.
Flags with Eagles
10The eagle is the most common heraldic animal in flag design — a symbol of empire, vigilance and sovereignty.
Flags with the Scandinavian Cross
9Nordic countries and their territories share a distinctive offset cross flag pattern.
Flags with the Southern Cross
9A constellation visible only from the southern hemisphere, used as a national emblem in the Pacific and South America.