🚩 World Flags Quiz

Pairs that are one detail apart

• Chad and Romania. Blue, yellow and red vertical bands, in the same order, at the same proportions. The only difference is the blue: Chad’s is a deep indigo, Romania’s a brighter cobalt. Side by side it is obvious; alone it is a coin toss unless you know to look.
• Indonesia, Monaco and Poland. Indonesia and Monaco are both red over white, and differ only in shape — Monaco’s is squatter. Poland is the one to anchor on, because it is the other way up: white over red.
• Ireland and Côte d’Ivoire. The same three colours mirrored. Ireland runs green, white, orange from the hoist; Côte d’Ivoire runs orange, white, green.
• Netherlands and Luxembourg. Red, white and blue horizontal bands in both. Luxembourg’s blue is noticeably lighter, closer to sky than navy.
• Norway and Iceland. Same Nordic cross, colours swapped. Norway is a red field with a blue cross outlined in white; Iceland is a blue field with a red cross outlined in white.
• Australia and New Zealand. Both are blue ensigns carrying the Southern Cross. Count the stars: Australia has six and they are white, New Zealand has four and they are red with white edges.
• Slovakia, Slovenia and Russia. White, blue and red stripes on all three. Russia is the plain one. Slovenia carries a small shield with a mountain and two wavy lines; Slovakia’s shield is larger, with a white double cross on red.
• Senegal, Mali and Cameroon. Green, yellow and red verticals. Senegal has a green star in the centre, Mali has nothing, and Cameroon reorders them to green, red, yellow with a star on the red.
• Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Yellow, blue and red horizontals, with the yellow band double height. Colombia is bare, Ecuador carries a full coat of arms, and Venezuela has an arc of white stars.

Flags you only need to see once

A few are unmistakable, which makes them free points and worth recognising instantly.

• Nepal. The only national flag that is not a rectangle — two stacked pennants.
• Switzerland. The only square flag among the countries in this quiz.
• Paraguay. Carries a different emblem on each side, which no other national flag does.
• Mozambique. The only flag with a modern rifle on it.
• Belize. The only one with human figures — two woodcutters either side of a tree.
• Cyprus and Kosovo. Both show a map of their own territory, which almost no other flag does.
• Bhutan. A white dragon across a diagonal split of yellow and orange.

A faster way to learn the rest

Flags cluster by region far more than by anything else: the Nordic cross across northern Europe, the pan-African green-yellow-red, the pan-Arab red-white-black-green, the Union Jack canton across the Pacific and Caribbean, and the star and crescent through North Africa and western Asia. Learning a region at a time means learning the pattern once and then only the differences — which is why the regional flag rounds are usually a better place to start than this one.