September 1, 2014
Countries with almost nothing in common but their flags
Before there were icons and logos, there were flags. For centuries, people have been devising simple shapes and colours to symbolize complex ideas.
With hundreds of countries in the world, there are bound to be some oddly coincidental similarities among their flags. Here are some that I found.
There are many others that also have similarities, but this is because they share histories, ethnicities or religions. I haven’t included them.
These SVGs are all available here.
Update: Almost 11 years later, on July 29, 2025, we have an addition. Haiti, left, and Liechtenstein not only have almost identical flags but didn’t discover this until they flew them at the 1936 Olympics. At that time their flags weren’t embellished, making it impossible to tell them apart.
Thailand, left, and Costa Rica are on opposite sides of the world, yet their flags are almost the same — with reversed colours.
The flag of Poland, top left, is the reverse of Indonesia, top right, and Monaco, bottom left, which are identical. Singapore is also the same except that it has a moon and stars.
The flags of Italy, top left, and Mexico, top right, are almost the same except Mexico has a decoration in the middle. Ireland, bottom left, is also close except that it ends with orange instead of red. Côte d’Ivoire is the reverse of Ireland.
India, top left, and Niger, top right, have close to the same colours with a round object in the middle. Hungary is also close, but with a plain centre.
The flags of Romania, top left, and Chad, top right, are very close to being the same. Andorra, bottom left, is the same as Romania except it has an emblem in the middle. Belgium is close — starting with black, instead of blue.
Netherlands, left, and Paraguay are close to the same, with the addition of an emblem for Paraguay.
Ghana, left, and Bolivia have the same colour combination but different embellishments.
Austria, top left, and Latvia, top right, are red with a horizontal white stripe in the middle. Lebanon is similar but also has a cedar in the middle.
Bangladesh, top left, Japan, top right, Laos, middle left, Palau, middle right, and Greenland all have a big dot.
Somalia, top left, Vietnam, top right, and Morocco have a big star on a one-colour background.
Three flags use maps of their territory: Cyprus, top left, Kosovo, top right, and Antarctica.
Bhutan, left, and Wales both have dragons.
Basque Country, left, and the United Kingdom have crosses on top of each other.
Malaysia, left, and the United States both have a blue canton and stripes.
And finally we have Nigeria, left, in west Africa and Norfolk Island — a territory of Australia in the direction of New Zealand — with nothing in common except, you guessed it, their flags. That’s an evergreen that distinguishes the Norfolk Island flag.