Countries with Similar Flags: 63 Stunning Similarities

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Global flags expert Tareth Peacock shares similar flags from around the world
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Ever notice that a lot of country flags kind of look similar to one another? If so, you’re not alone. There are some curious connections between a lot of these flags, and that’s what we’re going to explore here! In this article, we’ll break down the sets of flags that look the most similar to one another, with exclusive insights from one of wikiHow’s global flags experts.

Country Flags That Look Almost Identical

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A collection of different country flags that look similar to one another.

Global flags expert Tareth Peacock says countries may have similar flags due to coincidence, shared political history, or deliberate mirrors, or have civic flags that predate their national look-alikes. For example, some similar flags are found among geographically close countries (ex: Venezuela, Ecuador, and Colombia)

1

Chad & Romania

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  1. Peacock says the flags of Chad and Romania have “near-identical blue-yellow-red vertical stripes, differing only in a slightly darker ‘indigo’ blue on Chad’s flag versus Romania’s lighter ‘cobalt.’” He adds, “Chad was concerned enough about the resemblance to raise a formal complaint with the UN, [but] Romania declined to change its design.”[1]
    • Other similar flags: The flag of Andorra is also very similar to Chad and Romania, but there’s a big coat of arms in the middle of it.

    Meet the wikiHow Expert

    Tareth Peacock is a global flags expert based in the UK. He’s a member of UK’s Flag Institute and the North American Vexillology Association.

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2

Indonesia & Monaco

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  1. The flags of Indonesia and Monaco are “both a simple red-over-white horizontal bicolor,” says Peacock. He adds that they can only be distinguished by their proportions, pointing out that “Indonesia is wider.”[2]
3

Italy & Mexico

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  1. Peacock says that the flags of Italy and Mexico have “matching green-white-red vertical stripes.” The only difference is that Mexico’s flag has its coat of arms in the center, he says.[4]
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4

India & Niger

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  1. India and Niger both have saffron/orange-white-green horizontal stripes, says Peacock. But he adds that India’s flag was designed in 1947, so it predates Niger’s flag by about 12 years. India’s flag also carries the Ashoka Chakra rather than Niger’s plain disc, Peacock says.[5]
5

Mali & Senegal

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  1. Mali and Senegal flags are green, yellow and red, which Peacock says reflects their “shared Pan-African color traditions.”[6] The only difference here is the tiny green star in the middle of Senegal’s flag, whose five points are supposed to represent Senegal’s openness to working with the other five inhabited continents of the world.[7]
    • Other similar flags: The country of Guinea uses the exact same colors, but the stripes are reversed from Mali and Senegal. And Cameroon uses the same colors, but ordered green, red, yellow, with a yellow star in the center of the red stripe.
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6

Ireland & Côte d’Ivoire

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  1. They are the exact same, with one minor difference: the order of the colors. The Irish flag has the green on the left side, followed by white and orange, while the flag for Côte d’Ivoire has the green on the right.
    • Peacock says that the similarity of these flags caused “a real diplomatic-adjacent blunder: At the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, officials raised Ireland’s flag instead of Côte d’Ivoire’s for gold medalist Murielle Ahouré.” Peacock adds that Ahouré recovered quickly, and simply flipped it around on the spot.[8]
7

Bahrain & Qatar

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  1. Both of these countries have a “serrated white-and-maroon design,” says Peacock. They only differ in the number of points on the serration and the exact proportions of the design.[9]
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8

Norway & Iceland

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  1. Peacock says that Norway and Iceland’s flags are “identical Scandinavian cross designs with the colors reversed: Norway is a blue-on-red cross, Iceland is a red-on-blue cross.” He adds that both of these are based on Denmark’s design, which features a white cross on a red background.[10]
    • Other similar flags: Both Norway and Iceland base their flag design on the Denmark flag, which is the exact same shape with the offset-cross. It doesn’t have the interior cross inside of it though, and the colors are different.
9

Puerto Rico & Cuba

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  1. This one isn’t a coincidence, says Peacock. “Puerto Rican independence activists designed their flag in 1895 as a direct mirror image of Cuba’s inverting the same triangle-and-stripes layout as a gesture of solidarity.”[11]
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10

Australia & New Zealand

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  1. Peacock says that the flags of both Australia and New Zealand were “built on the British Blue Ensign with a stylized Southern Cross.” He says that they differ in the star count and the design (Australia adds a sixth Commonwealth Star.[12] The flags are a nod to each country’s history as a British colony.
11

Venezuela, Ecuador, & Colombia

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  1. This one is a fun story. These three countries used to be a part of one country, called Gran Colombia. Their flag featured bars of blue, yellow, and red, with yellow on top and red on the bottom. When Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, the country fractured into three countries: Venezuela, Ecuador, and Colombia. Peacock says that all three “inherited the yellow-blue-red tricolor of Gran Colombia,” but that while “Colombia and Ecuador kept the larger yellow stripe, Venezuela made its stripes equal.”[13]
    • Other similar flags: The Republic of New Granada uses the same colors, but the bars are vertical instead of horizontal.
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12

Luxembourg & The Netherlands

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  1. Both countries use red, white, and blue horizontal bars, in that order. The only difference is that Luxembourg’s blue is a lovely type of pale sky blue, while the Netherlands uses a more traditional royal blue.
13

Germany & Belgium

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  1. Both of these flags have the same black-gold-red palette, says Peacock. The only difference is that the stripes are rotated horizontally for Germany and vertically for Belgium.[14]
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14

Slovenia, Russia, & Slovakia

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  1. The Russian flag (which was modeled after the Dutch flag) became the inspiration behind many of the Eastern European flag designs, including Slovakia and Slovenia. Peacock says that all three of these countries “fly white-blue-red stripes in the same order. Without their respective coats (Mount Triglav for Slovenia, a double cross on three hills for Slovakia), the three would be indistinguishable."[15]
    • Other similar flags: Croatia and Serbia start off with a similar design to the Russian flag. Their colors are in a different order, though.
15

El Salvador & Nicaragua

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  1. Both of these flags have a white-blue-white color pattern with a coat of arms in the center. Peacock says that these flags are similar because they both “descend from the flag of the former Federal Republic of Central America.”[16]
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16

USA, Malaysia, & Liberia

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  1. All three flags feature red and white stripes with a blue box in the top left. The Malaysian flag has a star and crescent, while Liberia just has the single star and the USA has 50 stars.
17

Liechtenstein & Haiti

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  1. Both Liechtenstein and Haiti use a blue-over-red design with an emblem on the flag—and the similarity led to what Peacock calls “one of the best stories in vexillology.” He explains, “In the run-up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Liechtenstein’s delegation discovered its flag was identical to Haiti’s civil flag ([which was] used without the national coat of arms). Both nations adjusted their flags for the opening ceremony, and Liechtenstein permanently added a gold prince’s crown in 1937 to avoid a repeat.”[17]
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18

Hungary & Tajikistan

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  1. Peacock says that both of these flags use red, white, and green horizontal stripes, “though the shades and exact proportions differ.” He adds that “Tajikistan has an unusual 2:3:2 ratio when it comes to the width of its colors, as well, of course, as the central emblem.”[18]
19

Costa Rica & Thailand

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  1. Peacock says that both Costa Rica and Thailand have “five horizontal stripes with a double-width center band.” The only difference is that the color order is reversed between the two, he says. The order of the stripes on Costa Rica’s flag is blue, white, red, white, blue, and the order of Thailand’s flag is red, white, blue, white, red.[19]
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20

UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, & Sudan

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  1. All five flags feature green, red, black, and white, with a triangle hanging from the left side of the flag (except the UAE, which opted for a rectangle). The similarities here are striking, but understandable: these are the Pan-Arab colors, meant to represent Arab people everywhere.[20]
21

Japan, Bangladesh, & Palau

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  1. All three feature a solid-colored circle sitting in front of a solid-colored background. Nothing wrong with keeping it simple!
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22

Kenya & South Sudan

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  1. The flags of Kenya and South Sudan are both black, white, red, and green. Peacock says the flags “represent Pan-Africanism,” and are “distinguished by Kenya’s shield versus South Sudan’s star.”[21]
23

Latvia & Austria

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  1. These are both horizontal red-white-red tricolors, says Peacock. “Latvia’s distinguishing feature is its own specific dark maroon shade, sometimes called ‘Latvian Red,’” he adds.[22] The proportion of the stripes is slightly different, as well.
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24

Myanmar & Lithuania

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  1. These two flags share a yellow-green-red palette, says Peacock. However, “Myanmar arranges them as stripes with a white star overlay while Lithuania keeps a plain tricolor.”[23]
25

Argentina & Uruguay

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  1. The flags don’t seem that similar at a glance, but look at the sun designs. They both feature faces and a high number of rays. Both suns are known as the “Sun of May,” which is supposed to represent freedom from Spain.
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26

Turkey & Tunisia

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  1. Peacock says that both of these flags feature a white crescent and star on a red field. This reflects their shared history—the design is based on Ottoman-era symbolism, says Peacock.[24]
27

Bolivia & Ghana

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  1. Peacock says that the flags of Bolivia and Ghana both have red-yellow-green horizontal bands. He says that the only difference is that Ghana’s flag also has a black star in the center.[25]
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28

Texas & Chile

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  1. Peacock says that both Texas and Chile have flags with “a lone white star on blue with red-and-white stripes.” In fact, he points out that “the mix-up is so common that a Texas state lawmaker once filed a resolution asking Texans to stop using Chile’s flag emoji, and an Atascosa County election ballot notoriously printed Chile’s flag by mistake.”[26]

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References

  1. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  2. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  3. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  4. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  5. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  6. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  7. ↑ https://www.presidence.sn/en/presidence/le-drapeau-et-la-devise-du-senegal/
  8. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  9. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  1. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  2. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  3. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  4. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  5. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  6. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  7. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  8. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  9. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  10. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  11. ↑ https://www.arabamerica.com/the-meaning-and-history-behind-the-pan-arab-colors/
  12. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  13. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  14. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  15. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  16. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  17. ↑ Tareth Peacock. Global Flags Expert. Expert Interview
  18. https://www.britannica.com/list/flags-that-look-alike
  19. https://ultimateflags.com/blog/8-flags-share-similar-design/
  20. https://www.flagcolorcodes.com/flags-similar-to-the-united-states-flag

About This Article

Tareth Peacock
Co-authored by:
Tareth Peacock
Global Flags Expert
This article was co-authored by Tareth Peacock and by wikiHow staff writer, Eric McClure. Tareth Peacock is a global flags expert based in the UK. With over 5 years of experience creating content on his YouTube channel, Flags in Focus, Tareth is passionate about creating educational content on a variety of flags, including national, historic, city, regional, naval, and more. His newest series, Flags in 50 Places, combines his passion for travel with flags and allows him to explore more about their national symbol. Tareth is a member of the UK’s Flag Institute and a member of the North American Vexillology Association. He has presented at the UK’s Flag Institute about different city flags and writes a recurring article for their monthly newsletter.
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Co-authors: 2
Updated: August 15, 2026
Categories: Flags
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