The World Flag Chart

¹ The flag of the kingdom of ʻUvea, used as an unofficial symbol for the entire territory. ↩

² Officially only to be flown by civilian ships, but in practice flown widely on land as the national flag. ↩

³ Officially only to be flown civilian ships, but in practice flown widely on land as the national flag. ↩

⁴ Flown by the government, the navy, the national police, and national sports teams. Raised at major ceremonies. The army uses a similar flag with a different coat of arms. ↩

⁵ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

⁶ The most common flag, flown over most government buildings, at ceremonies, by diplomatic missions and often by public citizens. ↩

⁷ An alternative government flag, most commonly flown by the armed forces but also on some public buildings and offices. ↩

⁸ The simplest version of the national flag, flown by some private citizens. ↩

⁹ The most common Costa Rican flag. Officially designated for private citizens, but in practice often used on government buildings and schools too. ↩

¹⁰ Flown by the government and by diplomatic missions, although also used sometimes by private citizens. ↩

¹¹ Flown by Puerto Rican nationalists. Display of the flag was initially banned under American rule. ↩

¹² Flown by the government and armed forces, and unofficially used by many private citizens. ↩

¹³ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

¹⁴ Flown by the governmnent. The armed forces flew a similar flag with olive and laurel branches around the coat of arms. ↩

¹⁵ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

¹⁶ Moroccan merchant ships in the French zone flew what was called the "Arab ensign", the national flag with a French tricolour added to the top-left corner. ↩

¹⁷ Flown by the government, and often by private citizens. ↩

¹⁸ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

¹⁹ In Palestine, flown unofficially by the Arab community. Merchant ships flew a red British ensign with a badge that said "PALESTINE". The Jewish community flew the modern flag of Israel. ↩

²⁰ The former flag of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria, flown by nationalists throughout the mandate period. ↩

²¹ Flag of the Syrian Federation, a union of three French-administered statelets under a League of Nations mandate. ↩

²² There were many variations of this flag, depending on who was flying it and when. Some versions would have added inscriptions, decorations or royal symbols. The flag could also be triangular. ↩

²³ The number of points could vary. Some flags even had a completely straight-edged stripe. ↩

²⁴ Officially all of the Trucial States were supposed to fly a square red flag with a thick white border. In practice this flag became exclusively associated with the Al Qasimi dynasty. The other states mostly flew plain red flags. ↩

²⁵ Flown by the Jewish community in the British mandate of Palestine. Direct ancestor of the flag of Israel. ↩

²⁶ Flown by private citizens and merchant ships. The "Italian Social Republic", the Nazi puppet regime in the north, flew the plain tricolour as a national flag and had a war flag with an eagle gripping a fasces. The anti-fascist Italian partisans flew either plain tricolours or tricolours with a white or red star on the middle stripe. ↩

²⁷ Flown by the government and navy. ↩

²⁸ Flown by private citizens and municipalities. ↩

²⁹ Flown by the federal government and the armed forces. ↩

³⁰ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

³¹ Flown by the royal house, the government, and the armed forces. Also granted to a select list of private institutions and companies. ↩

³² Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

³³ Flown only on state-owned buildings and naval ships. ↩

³⁴ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

³⁵ Flown on government buildings and coast guard ships. ↩

³⁶ Flown for all purposes. A three-tailed version of the national flag is flown by the military. ↩

³⁷ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

³⁸ Flown by the government, border guard, and public universities. The armed forces fly a version with a swallowtail cut. ↩

³⁹ Flown on land within Greece. The military flag had a crown in the centre of the cross. ↩

⁴⁰ Flown at sea and abroad. The naval ensign had a crown in the centre of the cross. ↩

⁴¹ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

⁴² Flown over the Prince's Palace and government buildings. ↩

⁴³ Flown unofficially, mostly by civilian ships. There was also a blue colonial ensign with the Maltese coat of arms on it. ↩

⁴⁴ The traditional Catalan flag. ↩

⁴⁵ The flag preferred by supporters of Catalan independence. ↩

⁴⁶ Part of the Soviet Union, which did not yet have a national flag. ↩

⁴⁷ Part of the Soviet Union, which did not yet have a national flag. ↩

⁴⁸ Part of the Soviet Union, which did not yet have a national flag. ↩

⁴⁹ Part of the Soviet Union, which did not yet have a national flag. ↩

⁵⁰ Allowed to be flown by anyone. ↩

⁵¹ Flown by the President and on state-owned ships. ↩

⁵² The Svaraj ("self-rule") flag flown by nationalists and independence activists. British India had several colonial flags. A red civil ensign with the Star of India medal on it was used to represent India at international sporting events and in the League of Nations. ↩

⁵³ The maharaja's flag had yellow stripes at the top and bottom. ↩

⁵⁴ The raja's flag was rectangular ↩

⁵⁵ Flown by the Maharao and also used as a state flag. The flag was sometimes much longer. ↩

⁵⁶ The previous plain red flag was sometimes flown as an alternate state flag. ↩

⁵⁷ The reverse side of the flag showed a moon and a flower. ↩

⁵⁸ Mewar had a number of reported princely banners which were also sometimes used as state flags. The most common one had a large yellow sun and a blue katar dagger. ↩

⁵⁹ Kolhapur flew the Maratha saffron banner as a state flag. The maharaja had a diagonally-divided red and orange flag. ↩

⁶⁰ Flown by the maharaja and often used as a state flag. ↩

⁶¹ Allowed to be flown by civilians. ↩

⁶² Inland river boats flew a triangular pennant in the same colours. ↩

⁶³ There was also a red British colonial ensign with the coat of arms on it. ↩

⁶⁴ The nawab's flag, which was sometimes used as an alternate state flag, was white with a green hand. ↩

⁶⁵ The maharaja's flag had a gold eagle on it. The armed forces used a flag with white and purple stripes. ↩

⁶⁶ The raja's flag had a gold tiger head in the middle. The war flag was a red flag with the state coat of arms on it. ↩

⁶⁷ Flown by the maharaja and often used as a state flag. The swallowtailed saffron Maratha banner was also sometimes flown. There was a red colonial British ensign with a scimitar and horseman badge. ↩

⁶⁸ There was also a red British colonial ensign with a white sun and moon badge. ↩

⁶⁹ There was also a red British colonial ensign with a white shell badge. ↩

⁷⁰ The maharawat's flag had the same design but in yellow instead of white. ↩

⁷¹ There was also a red British colonial ensign with a white Hanuman badge. ↩

⁷² The Raja's flag had a red sun ↩

⁷³ Flag of the maharaja's dynasty, used as a state flag. ↩

⁷⁴ The flag flown at the palace had the state coat of arms on it. ↩

⁷⁵ The begum's standard had a crown and inscription on it. ↩

⁷⁶ Flown by Sinhalese nationalists in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. There was also an infrequently-used blue British colonial ensign with an elephant badge. ↩

⁷⁷ Flag of the All-India Muslim League, which advocated for Muslim interests within British India. The direct predecessor of the flag of Pakistan. ↩

⁷⁸ Flown by the Korean independence movement and the unrecognized government-in-exile based in China. Banned under Japanese occupation. ↩

⁷⁹ Flown by the Beiyang government in Beijing, which controlled Northern China. ↩

⁸⁰ Flown by the Nationalist government in Guangzhou, which controlled Southern China. ↩

⁸¹ Flown by Indonesian nationalists. The Dutch East Indies did not have an official national flag. ↩

⁸² Flown by the sultan and on naval ships. ↩

⁸³ Flown by merchant ships and sometimes used by civilians as an alternate national flag. ↩

⁸⁴ Flown over the sultan's palace and the military. ↩

⁸⁵ Flown by merchant ships. ↩

⁸⁶ There was also a colonial "protectorate flag" which was plain yellow with a French tricolour in the top left corner. ↩

⁸⁷ Flown by Burmese nationalists. The British colonial government did not have a distinct flag. ↩