The flags of Europe
Forty-five flags, but only four or five families. Once the reading grid is in place, only a handful of exceptions remain.
Europe is the continent where flags resemble each other most — and that is lucky. Almost all descend from three models: the Nordic cross, the revolutionary tricolour and the pan-Slavic trio. Identifying the family already eliminates the other forty answers.
The Nordic crosses
Five countries share the same construction: a cross shifted towards the hoist, its vertical arm closer to the mast than to the fly. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland. The model is the Danish Dannebrog, the oldest national flag still in use. Once the family is spotted, only the colours separate its members: red and white for Denmark, blue and yellow for Sweden, blue and white for Finland, and a double cross for Norway and Iceland.
Tricolours and the pan-Slavic colours
The vertical tricolour is a French legacy: France, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Moldova. The horizontal white-blue-red tricolour comes from Peter the Great's Russian flag and was taken up by the pan-Slavic movement in the nineteenth century: Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Czechia. The last three add a coat of arms, which is precisely how you tell them apart.
The pairs that cost points
Monaco and Poland carry the same two red and white bands — in reverse order: red on top for Monaco, white on top for Poland. The Netherlands and Luxembourg differ only in the shade of blue, lighter on the latter. Romania and Chad are all but identical, a shade of blue apart — but Chad is African, which helps.
These confusions are covered in our guide to the flags people always confuse.
All 45 flags
| Flag | Country | Capital |
|---|---|---|
 | Albania | Tirana |
 | Germany | Berlin |
 | Andorra | Andorra la Vella |
 | Austria | Vienna |
 | Belgium | Brussels |
 | Belarus | Minsk |
 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Sarajevo |
 | Bulgaria | Sofia |
 | Cyprus | Nicosia |
 | Vatican City | Vatican City |
 | Croatia | Zagreb |
 | Denmark | Copenhagen |
 | Spain | Madrid |
 | Estonia | Tallinn |
 | Finland | Helsinki |
 | France | Paris |
 | Greece | Athens |
 | Hungary | Budapest |
 | Ireland | Dublin |
 | Iceland | Reykjavik |
 | Italy | Rome |
 | Latvia | Riga |
 | Liechtenstein | Vaduz |
 | Lithuania | Vilnius |
 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg |
 | North Macedonia | Skopje |
 | Malta | Valletta |
 | Moldova | Chișinău |
 | Monaco | Monaco |
 | Montenegro | Podgorica |
 | Norway | Oslo |
 | Netherlands | Amsterdam |
 | Poland | Warsaw |
 | Portugal | Lisbon |
 | Romania | Bucharest |
 | United Kingdom | London |
 | Russia | Moscow |
 | San Marino | City of San Marino |
 | Serbia | Belgrade |
 | Slovakia | Bratislava |
 | Slovenia | Ljubljana |
 | Sweden | Stockholm |
 | Switzerland | Bern |
 | Czechia | Prague |
 | Ukraine | Kyiv |
Frequently asked
Which countries have a Nordic cross on their flag?
How do you tell Monaco from Poland?
Why are so many Eastern European flags white, blue and red?
Do you recognise these flags?
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