How many country flags can you identify without looking them up?
Well, you most definitely know this one and this one, but what about these two here?
When I say “two” I really mean it – some countries have flags so similar they will
give even a geography fan a hard time.
New Zealand and Australia
Let’s start down under.
It’s understandable Australia and New Zealand have a lot in common, but their flags just
look way too similar.
Both of them are essentially a blue field with Union Jack to represent their British
colonial past in the top inner corner.
This canvas is called the British Blue Ensign.
The difference between the two flags is in the shades of blues and reds and the stars.
Flag of New Zealand has four of them representing the Southern Cross constellation.
Flag of Australia has the same constellation but pictured in 5 stars and an extra larger
star that is called a Commonwealth or Federation star.
Indonesia and Monaco
In contrast to the previous pair of countries, these two have basically nothing that brings
them together, except for their almost identical flags.
Both are hundreds years old and both are essentially two horizontal stripes in red and white.
Flag of Monaco is using the heraldic colors of the shield of Monegasque (that’s a fancy
way of saying “related to Monaco”) royal family arms.
The flag of Indonesia is a reminder of those times when it was associated with the Majapahit
Empire.
White and red in it symbolize duality of nature.
The only difference between the two flags is that Indonesian is longer.
And, here comes a plot twist: if you turn any of these two flags upside down, you’ll
see the flag of Poland with a white stripe over a red stripe.
Venezuela, Colombia, Equador
In 1822, the newly created country of Gran Colombia made its national flag a canvas of
three unequal horizontal stripes in yellow, blue and red.
And even though that state existed only for 8 years, its legacy lives on in the flags
of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador that have made it the basis for their individual flags.
Flag of Venezuela has stripes equal in size, an arc of stars in the middle and the national
coat of arms in the upper hoist corner.
The flag of Ecuador also features the national coat of arms, except it’s right in the middle.
Stripes in the flags of Colombia and Ecuador are of different width and yellow is the largest
of them.
Nicaragua and Honduras
Both of these flags are based on the flag of the United Provinces of Central America,
a country that existed in the 19 century.
Honduras adopted its official flag in 1866.
It has five stars against the white background of its central horizontal stripes.
They stand for five original Central American provinces of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala,
Costa Rica and El Salvador.
It’s interesting that the flag of Nicaragua has the same symbolism, except it has five
volcanoes instead of five stars.
The blue stripes on both flags stand for the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Norway and Iceland
Both of these Nordic countries have derived their flag from their peer – Denmark.
So both feature a white Scandinavian cross and a color combination of red and blue.
Red is the dominant color of the Norwegian flag and the cross is white-bordered.
The flag of Iceland has way more of blue and a red cross that’s also white-bordered.
Luxembourg and Netherlands
The red, white and blue tricolor has been the official Dutch flag since mid-17th century.
So it’s easily one of the oldest flags in the world that later inspired other famous
tricolors, such as those of France and Russia.
Until that time, the upper stripe used to be orange, the color of Dutch royalty.
Flag of Luxembourg didn’t stem from its neighbor, but developed on its own.
The two banners differ in the shades of blue and their ratio: 2:3 for Netherlands and 3:5
for Luxembourg.
Tunisia and Turkey
The Turkish flag as we know it today with a white star and a crescent was adopted in
the 19 century and derived from the flag of Ottoman Empire.
Back around the same time, Tunisia was also part of the Ottoman Empire but it had some
commercial independence.
So the ruler of the country Hussein Bey II had a hard time picking a flag that would
look like the Ottoman one but not be identical.
He didn’t want his ships to be confused with Ottoman ships and be attacked by countries
they had peace treaties with.
So, the modern flag of Tunisia has been around since 1827 and looks very much like the Turkish
flag.
Egypt, Iraq, Yemen
All of these countries’ flags are based on Arab Liberation Flag of 1952.
It consisted of three equal horizontal stripes of red, white and black.
The red stands for unity and blood shred in the name of revolution, white symbolizes a
bright future, and black stands for the dark past.
The modern flag of Yemen is basically the Arab Liberation Flag, and the flags of Egypt
and Iraq have their own symbolism added.
The Egyptian flag features its national emblem, the eagle of Saladin, right in the middle.
The current version of the flag of Iraq was adopted in 2008 when changed were made to
the symbols in green in the center of it.
Bahrain and Qatar
Flags of Bahrain and Qatar are often mistaken for one another, but local people will assure
you they are completely different.
First of all, the Bahraini flag is white and red, and the flag of Qatar is white and maroon.
Second, the latter has nine white points that symbolize that Qatar became the 9th member
of the “reconciled Emirates” of the Persian Gulf in 1916.
The flag of Bahrain has five white points that symbolize the Five Pillars of Islam.
Samoa and Taiwan
The UN has proclaimed the official flag of Samoa in 1949.
It is a red field that has a blue rectangle in the upper corner.
It features the Southern Cross constellation with four large stars and one smaller star.
Taiwan has the flag of the Republic of China for its national banner.
It’s also a red field with blue in the upper corner.
You can also see a white disc that stand for the Sun with twelve triangles or rays around
it in the blue field.
Slovenia, Slovakia, Russia
The Russian tricolor inspired by the Dutch flag was used on merchant ships and as a national
flag since 1696.
It was replaced during the Soviet times and re-introduced in 1991 in the 1:2 ratio.
The Russian tricolor became the inspiration for flags of many countries in eastern and
southern Europe.
The 2 big differences between the flags of Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia are the length
(Russian flag is shorter) and the fact that the both Slovakia and Slovenia have their
coat of arms proudly set in the middle of their tricolors.
Croatia and Paraguay
It seems like there is hardly any connection between these two states geographically so
wide apart.
Yet, they both have a tricolor in the same order of colors as their national banner.
Croatian flag also has a shield in the middle with a crown made up of five ancient coats
of arms of Croatia and its regions: Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia.
The flag of Paraguay bears the colors of the French tricolor, since many historians believe
independence movements in Latin America were inspired by the French Revolution.
And since you already know the French flag is a variation of the Dutch tricolor, they
do have some common history with Croatian flag after all.
One unique thing about the flag of Paraguay is that it’s double-sided with the national
coat of arms on the obverse and the seal of the treasury on the reverse.
Ireland and India
Have you ever noticed flags of Ireland and India are of exactly the same colors?
Now you have, you’re welcome!
In the case with Ireland, the green, white and orange symbolize peace between Roman Catholics
and Protestants everyone was so hoping for in the 19th century when the flag was adopted.
White in this case is the color of truce.
As for the Indian flag, orange in it stands for courage and sacrifice, white – for peace
and truth, and green – for faith and chivalry.
There is also a 24-spoke wheel in the middle that’s called Ashoka Chakra.
And now, prepare to be amazed because there’s no other pair of flags in the world that look
this much alike!
Romania and Chad
It takes a real flag expert to spot any differences between the flags or Romania and Chad.
That difference is in the slight variations of shades between the blue, yellow, and red
vertical stripes.
The two flags have totally different origins.
The modern version of the Romanian flag was adopted in 1861 after a few variations to
the previous versions.
Chad got its banner in 1960 when it had received independence from France.
In the first version there was a green stripe but it looked too much like the flag of Mali,
so they added a blue stripe instead.
Can you think of any other flags that look alike?
Let me know in the comment section below!
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