What Country Has the Oldest Continuously Used Flag

Countries by flag adoption

This is a list of sovereign states by the date in which they adopted their current national flag.

For most of these states, the date of flag adoption is clear, but for others the exact date of flag adoption is unknown or disputed because of design changes. This list defines the year of flag adoption as the year since when the current flag has been used continuously to represent a nation, autonomous region or occupied state. Only countries which are currently sovereign states are listed, although the flag may have been adopted before the countries gained independence. The listed countries may have undergone fundamental regime changes, great geographical changes or even temporary lost autonomy, political unions or secessions. If the flag remained in use during such events, its original adoption date is listed. Changes that do not alter the basic design of the flag, like the changes in ratio or colour shade, restyling of emblems or inscriptions or the addition or removal of stars, are listed in the last column. The current flag design often evolved over the years (e.g. the flag of the United States) or can be a re-adoption of an earlier, historic flag (e.g. the flag of Libya). The year the current flag design first came into use is listed in the third column.

List [edit]

Country	Adoption of current flag design	First use of current flag design	Last change to current flag design
Denmark	1219 [1]	1219	1893 (proportions formalized)
Netherlands	1660 [2]	1409-1410	1937 (colours formalized)
Nepal	1743	1743	1962 (modernized; the faces disappeared from the sun and moon)
United Kingdom	1801	1801	1801 (merged with Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)
Chile	1817	1817	1854 (the national coat of arms disappeared and the star was kept completely upright)
Argentina	1818	1812	2012 (proportions standardized)
Peru	1825	1822	1950
Uruguay	1828	1828	1830
France	1830	1794 (naval ensign)[note 1]	1976 (colours standardized); current design reintroduced in 1830;[3] current design becoming the default in 2020[4]
Tunisia	1831	1827 (naval ensign)	1999 (proportions formalized)
Belgium	1831	1831	1831
Paraguay	1842	1842	2013 (coat of arms modified)
Turkey	1844	1793	1936 (proportions standardized)
Liberia	1847	1847	1847
Bolivia	1851	1851	2004 (coat of arms modified)
Ecuador	1860	1810	2009 (modernized)
Colombia	1861	1810	1949 (official pattern issued, all flags with arms modified)[5]
San Marino	1862	1797 [6]	2011 (proportions standardized)
Honduras	1866	1823	2022 [7] (change of colours)
Japan	1870	701	1999 (exact colours specified, sun disc is perfectly centered, and proportions fixed)
Guatemala	1871	1868	1968 [8]
Tonga	1875	1674 (as English Red Ensign)	1875
Monaco	1881	1881	1881
South Korea	1883	1882 [note 1] (designed by King Gojong or Pak Yeong-hyo)	2011 (when the exact colour shades were last changed from their previous colours set in 1997). In 1948 the South Korean national assembly readopted this as the national flag with a modification of the taegeuk. The trigrams were moved into their current place in 1949. The exact dimensions were specified in 1984.
Switzerland	1889	1470	1841
Philippines	12 February 1898	1898	1998 (present definitive shades of blue and red)
Norway	1899	1821	1899 (removal of Union mark of Norway and Sweden)
Australia	3 September 1901	1901	1934 (dimensions officially gazetted)
Cuba	1902	1868 (naval jack of Cuba)	1902
New Zealand	1902	1869	1902 (dimensions defined)
Sweden	1906	1562 (or earlier)	1906 (removal of Union mark of Norway and Sweden)
Costa Rica	1848	1848	1998 (changes to coat of arms)
Dominican Republic	1908 [9]	1844	1908
Portugal	1911	1910	1910
Albania	1912	1443 [10]	22 July 2002 (colours standardized)
El Salvador	17 May 1912	1822 (as provincial flag within Federal Republic of Central America)	17 May 1912 (colours specified, and replaced with its own coat of arms)
Morocco	1915	1915	1915 (the Seal of Solomon is replaced by a green pentagram)
Thailand	1917	1917	30 September 2017 (colours standardized)[11]
Austria	1918	1230	1918
Estonia	1918	1884	2002 (colours standardized)
Finland	1918	1861	1920 (colours changed)
Germany	1918	1848 (by the Frankfurt Parliament)[note 1]	1999 (when the exact colours were specified)[12]
Ireland	1919	1848	1848
Poland	1919	1831	1921 (colours formalized)
Jordan	1928	1917	1928 (star introduced)
Latvia	1921	1279	1923 (proportions formalized)
Republic of China	1928	1921 (by the Guangzhou government)	1921
Panama	1925	1903	1925 (upper left quadrant made white)
Vatican City	1929	1808	1929 (Papal tiara and keys added)
Liechtenstein	1937	1764	1937 (addition of crown)
Lebanon	1943	1943	1943
Iceland	1944	1918	1944 (when the exact colours were changed)
Indonesia	1945	1881	1881
Vietnam	1945	1940	1955 (star edges made sharper)
India	24 July 1947	1923	1947 (Gandhian Spinning Wheel changed to Ashoka Chakra (Ashoka's Wheel; colours formalized))
Pakistan	11 August 1947	14 August 1947	1947
Italy	1943	1796 (with Napoleon I)	2006 (when exact colours were specified). In 1948 the monarch's banner was removed, and the Italian Republic was proclaimed.
North Korea	July 1948 [13]	1948 [13]	1992 (standardization, star and disc sizes changed)
Israel	1948	1891	1897
Samoa	1949	1948	1948
People's Republic of China	1 October 1949	27 September 1949	1 January 2021 (standardization of the colours)
Somalia	1960	1954	1954
Hungary	1957	1848 (1681)	1956 (removing the Rákosi-coat of arms)
Madagascar	1958	1958	1958
Guinea	1958	1958	1958
Central African Republic	1958	1958	1958
Chad	1959	1959	1959
Brunei	1959	1906	1959 (crest added)
Benin	1959	1959	1959
Niger	1959	1958	1958
Ivory Coast	1959	1959	1959
Singapore	1959	1959	1959
United States	14 July 1960	1777 [note 1]	1960 (addition of a star after Hawaii became a state)
Togo	1960	1960	1960
Gabon	1960	1959	1960
Cyprus	1960	1960	24 April 2006 (modification)
Senegal	1960	1959	1960
Nigeria	1960	1959	1959
Mali	1961	1959	1961 (removal of central stick figure)
Sierra Leone	1961	1960	1960
Kuwait	1961	1961	1961
Algeria	1962	1934	1962
Jamaica	1962	1962	1962
Trinidad and Tobago	1962	1962	1962
Uganda	1962	1962	1962
Malaysia	1950	1950	1963 (14-point star and 14 stripes after Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the federation, remains unchanged in 1965 after Singapore was expelled and the addition of Putrajaya and Labuan in the flag)
Kenya	1963	1963	1963
Tanzania	1964	1964	1964 (merged with Tanganyika and Zanzibar)
Malta	1964	1943	1964 (background of George Cross changed to white)
Zambia	1964	1964	1996 (green field changed to a lighter shade)
Maldives	1965	1926	1965 (removal of striped hoist after Independence)
Canada	15 February 1965	1965	1965
Gambia	1965	1965	1965
Ghana	1966	1957	1966 (white stripe changed back to original yellow)
Botswana	1966	1966	1966
Barbados	1966	1966	1966
Guyana	1966	1966	1966
Burundi	1967	1962	1982 (ratio changed from 2:3 to 3:5)
Antigua and Barbuda	27 February 1967	1967	1967
Nauru	1968	1968	1968
Mauritius	1968	1968	1968
Mexico	1968	1821 (First Mexican Empire flag)	1968 (coat of arms modified)
Eswatini	1968	1968	1968
Bhutan	1969	1947	1969 (colour of the lower half changed from red to orange)
Sudan	1970	1970	1970
Fiji	1970	1924	1970 (emblem on flag changed)
Qatar	1971	1949	1971 (proportion modified)
Andorra	1971	1866	1971 (coat of arms modified)
Nicaragua	1908	1823 (as provincial flag within United States of Central America)	1971 (coat of arms modified)
United Arab Emirates	1971	1971	1971
Bangladesh	1972	1971	1972 (removal of country's map)
Sri Lanka	1972	1948	1972 (four leaves of the Bo tree were added to the corners of the flag) [a]
Luxembourg	1972	1845 [14]	1845
Saudi Arabia	1973	1932	1973 (design of sword modified)
Bahamas	1973	1973	1973
Guinea-Bissau	1973	1973	1973
Grenada	1974	1974	1974
Cameroon	20 May 1975	1957	1975 (a yellow star added in the middle)
Papua New Guinea	1975	1971	1971
São Tomé and Príncipe	1975	1975	1975
Angola	1975	1975	1975
Suriname	1975	1975	1975
Laos	1975	1945 (by the Lao Issara government)	1975 (communist takeover)
Djibouti	1977	1977	1977
Solomon Islands	1977	1977	1977
Dominica	1990	1978	1990 (yellow side of green stars removed, but old design seldom use today)
Greece	1978	1822 (naval ensign)[note 1]	1978 (land flag abolished)
Saint Lucia	1979	1967	2002
Marshall Islands	1979	1979	1979
Kiribati	1979	1979	1979
Equatorial Guinea	1979	1972	1979 (re-adoption of coat of arms due to the collapse of Francisco Nguema regime)
Micronesia	1979	1965 (as Flag of the TTPI which had 6 stars above)	1979 (two stars removed due to reorganization of the Territory)
Vanuatu	1980	1980	1980
Syria	1980	1958 [note 1]	1980
Zimbabwe	18 April 1980	1980	1980
Iran	1980	1980	1980 (national emblem added to center of flag and religious script added due to the Islamic Revolution)
Spain	1981	1785 [note 1]	1981 (coat of arms replaced)
Palau	1981	1981	1981
Belize	1981	1981	21 September 2019 (standardized)
Mozambique	1983	1975 [15] [note 1]	1983 (change of emblem on the left side of flag)
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1983	1983	1983
Burkina Faso	1984	1984	1984
Egypt	1984	1953	1984
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1985	1985	1985
Haiti	1859	1806 [note 1]	1986 (re-adoption due to the collapse of Duvalier regime)
Palestine	1988	1988	1988
Lithuania	1922	1918	2004 (ratio changed)
Romania	1989	1867	1989 (removed emblem)
Namibia	1990	1990	1990
Yemen	1990	1952	1952
Moldova	1990	1990	2010 (emblem copied to reverse side)
Armenia	1990	1918	1990 (ratio changed)
Azerbaijan	1990	1918	1918
Croatia	1990	1848 [note 1]	1990 (redesign of the coat of arms)
Russia	1991 [16]	1696 [note 1]	1993 (ratio and colours changed)
Bulgaria	1991	1879	1991 (removal of the state emblem)
Republic of the Congo	10 June 1991	1959	1959
Slovenia	25 June 1991	1848	1991 (red star was replaced with coat of arms)
Uzbekistan	18 November 1991	1991	1991
Mongolia	12 January 1992	1940	2011 (colours standardized)
Ukraine	28 January 1992	1848	1918
Turkmenistan	19 February 1992	1992	2001 (ratio and ornament design adjusted)
Kyrgyzstan	3 March 1992	1992	1992
Brazil	11 May 1992	1889	1992 (addition of four stars after Amapá, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins became states)
Kazakhstan	4 June 1992 [17]	1992	1992
Slovakia	3 September 1992	1848	1992
Cape Verde	22 September 1992	1992	1992
Tajikistan	24 November 1992	1992	1992
Czech Republic	1 January 1993	1920	1920
Eritrea	24 May 1993 [18]	1993	1995 (ratio changed)
Cambodia	June 1993	1948	1993 (re-adoption)
South Africa	27 April 1994	1994	1994
Oman	25 April 1995	1970	1995 (middle band to equal size)
Belarus	7 June 1995	1951 [note 1]	2012 (previous 1995 design with a thicker ornament pattern)[19]
North Macedonia	5 October 1995	1995	1995
Seychelles	8 January 1996	1996	1996
Ethiopia	6 February 1996	1996	2009 (larger central disc)
Tuvalu	11 April 1997	1978	1997 (restoration of 1978 flag)
Afghanistan	27 October 1997	1997	15 August 2021 (restoration of 1997 flag)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4 February 1998	1998	10 August 2001
Rwanda	25 October 2001	2001	2001
Comoros	23 December 2001	2002	2002
Bahrain	14 February 2002	1932	2002 (white points reduced to 5)
East Timor	20 May 2002 [20]	1975	1975
Georgia	14 January 2004	1350 [note 1] (approx. and disputed)	2018 (minor change to geometry of the Bolnisi crosses)[21]
Serbia	2004	1835 (by the Principality of Serbia without coat of arms)[22] [23] [note 1]	2010 (redesign of the coat of arms, exact colours defined)
Montenegro	13 July 2004	2004	2004 (first publication)
Democratic Republic of the Congo	20 February 2006 [24]	1963 [note 1]	2006 (return to 1966 design, colours changed to a lighter shade of blue)
Venezuela	12 March 2006	1810	12 March 2006 (addition of a star)
Lesotho	4 October 2006	4 October 2006	4 October 2006
Iraq	22 January 2008	1963	22 January 2008 (removal of stars, slight change to script)
Myanmar	10 October 2010	10 October 2010	10 October 2010
Libya	17 February 2011	24 December 1951 [note 1]	2011 (readoption of the 1951 flag)
South Sudan	9 July 2011	9 July 2005 [25]	9 July 2011 (proportions defined, independent state)
Malawi	28 May 2012 [26] [27]	6 July 1964 [note 1]	2012 [26] [27] (readoption of the 1964 flag)
Mauritania	15 August 2017	15 August 2017	15 August 2017 (addition of red bands)

See also [edit]

• Timeline of national flags

Notes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} The flag has not been in continuous use.

1. ^ The flag originated as the Flag of the Kingdom of Kandy (1592-1815), but was discontinued during British colonial rule, and was readopted in 1948 after Independence with few alterations.

References [edit]

1. ^ Bartholdy, Nils G.; Leksikon, Gyldendal (n.d.). "National Flag – The official Website of Denmark". Denmark.dk. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
2. ^ Poels, Jos (1–5 August 2011). "The Orange Pennant: The Dutch Response to a Flag Dilemma" (PDF). The Washington Flag Congress: 882–898. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
3. ^ sache, ivan (15 June 2022). "France: Index of all pages". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. § Historical flags. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
4. ^ "Macron switches to using navy blue on France's flag - reports". BBC News. 14 November 2021. Archived from the original on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
5. ^ schneider, klaus-michael (26 August 2021). "Colombia - Historical Flags (1910-1949)". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. § 1949 Flags. Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
6. ^ Breschi, Roberto (n.d.). "Sanmarino" [SAN MARINO]. www.rbvex.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
7. ^ raeside, rob (25 August 2021). "Honduras - Historical Flags". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
8. ^ "Flags, Symbols, & Currencies Of Guatemala". WorldAtlas. n.d. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
9. ^ "Dominican Republic Flag". That's Dominican. n.d. Archived from the original on 26 May 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
10. ^ Elsie 2010, "Flag, Albanian", p. 140: "The eagle was a common heraldic symbol for many Albanian dynasties in the Late Middle Ages and came to be a symbol of the Albanians in general. It is also said to have been the flag of Skanderbeg...As a symbol of modern Albania, the flag began to be seen during the years of the national awakening and was in common use during the uprisings of 1909-1912. It was this flag that Ismail Qemal bey Vlora raised in Vlora on 28 November 1912 in proclaiming Albanian independence." harvnb error: no target: CITEREFElsie2010 (help)
11. ^ สำนักงานพัฒนาวิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยีแห่งชาติ (National Science and Technology Development Agency) (16 October 2017). "มาตรฐานแถบสีธงชาติไทย" [Thai flag color standard]. มาตรฐานแถบสีธงชาติไทย (in Thai). National Science and Technology Development Agency. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
12. ^ Federal Government of Germany (n.d.). "Primärfarben". Corporate Design Documentation (in German). Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
13. ^ ^{a b} Tertitskiy, Fyodor (20 June 2014). "Kim Tu Bong and the Flag of Great Extremes". Daily NK. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
14. ^ sache, ivan (9 August 2017). "Luxembourg". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Sitee. Archived from the original on 15 January 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
15. ^ berry, bruce (5 February 2022). "Mozambique". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
16. ^ poposki, valentin (24 July 2021). "Russia". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
17. ^ lomantsov, victor (12 December 2020). "Kazakhstan". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
18. ^ berry, bruce (31 December 2021). "Eritrea". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 21 November 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
19. ^ harden, zachary (17 July 2021). "Belarus". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
20. ^ harden, zachary (4 December 2021). "East Timor". FOTW "Flags Of The World" Web Site. Archived from the original on 25 November 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
21. ^ The parliament of Georgia (14 November 2018). "საქართველოს სახელმწიფო სიმბოლოების შესახებ" [Organic law of Georgia - About the state symbols of Georgia]. სსიპ "საქართველოს საკანონმდებლო მაცნე" (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
22. ^ D. Matic, Javno pravo Knjazevstva Srbije, Beograd, 1851, 33
23. ^ Српска државна застава у обновљеној Србији Archived 15 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine ("Политика", 1-4. мај 1937)
24. ^ Stadler, Paul (21 March 2011). "Zaire / Congo-Kinshasa". Encyclopedia of Christianity Online. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
25. ^ "Flag of South Sudan". Archived from the original on 25 March 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
26. ^ ^{a b} Gwede, Wanga (28 May 2012). "Malawi Parliament approves to revert to original flag". Nyasa Times. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
27. ^ ^{a b} "Malawi reverts to old flag". Sunday Times. 29 May 2012. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

Sources [edit]

• Sources for most of the dates in this list can be found in the articles on the respective flags or per the Flags of the World database.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_date_of_current_flag_adoption

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