Top 11 Flags of the World

By CJ Tiernan

During the pandemic that began the first half of 2020, (C'mon! You remember the one I'm talking about!) I decided to try and memorize the flags for the different countries of the world. I don't really pay attention to world affairs and History was my least favorite subject in school (to quote Rafiki: "It's in the past. It doesn't matter). I wanted to become a dash more worldly wise, but in a manner that fit my vibe. I don't have all the flags memorized, but I did see all of them over and over again and started to develop my favorites. The following is a list of my 11 favorite flags. These are all of countries, I didn't include any states or anything like that. I ranked them purely on aesthetics and wont pretend I know the symbolism behind them.

1. Bhutan

To quote South Park: "It's got a dragon painted right on the blade." The bright, happy colors coupled with the ornate, crazy-faced dragon is so much fun! This flag is larger than life, and I love the fun juxtaposition of bright yellow and orange with the monochromatic dragon. Bhutan is located in the eastern Himalayan mountain range between China and India. There is just a splash of China between western Bhutan and eastern Nepal.

2. Sri Lanka

There is a lion holding a sword on this flag. Look at those human-like fingers wrapped around the hilt. Sick! Plus the colors on this are so fun. You've got the University of Miami stripes off to the left (Is The U back?) and then the Gryffindor aesthetic with the maroon and gold throughout the rest. I also like that this flag breaks free of the usual flag dimensions. Way to go Sri Lanka! Sri Lanka is an island nation located off the southeast coast of India. Poor India. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.

3. Vatican City

Vatican City is famously the smallest country in the world, a mere .17 square miles located entirely within the city of Rome. As the home of the Pope, there is a clear and obvious Christian influence going on here. There are crosses all over the place and even the keys to the kingdom or heaven or whatever are crossed. The ornate, Papal headdress is also pictured. Silver and gold keys have a regal nature but I like the clean yellow half and the blank white space on the right half as well.

4. Brunei

Brunei is a small Asian country on the island of Borneo that's basically completely surrounded by water and Malaysia. The color scheme of black/white/yellow is fun here and the red in the middle really pops. I won't pretend to know what the flag says but it is odd that the message is written in Arabic and the two most spoken languages in the country are Malay and English. Well, I guess the dollar bill has latin written on it and that's not one of the most spoken languages in this country (at least outside of a courtroom). The hands and wings are cool symbols and if you look close you can see a little flag on the flag. Flag-ception!

5. Montenegro

Montenegro is an eastern European country just on the other side of the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It is nestled in just south of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. You know, just north of Albania. Don't pretend you can't picture the exact spot in your mind. Anyway, this flag has a double-headed eagle rocking a Flavor Flav-esque crest of a Lion on it. Awesome! The two heads are sharing a single crown, which I see ending badly but, what do I know about a unitary parliamentary republic? Did I mention the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch in the left hand/talon?

6. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

A Caribbean Island nation comprised of several islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is located south of St. Lucia, west of Barbados, and north of Grenada. The Diamonds making a V-shape is a really clean and simple look. The Blue/Green/Yellow is also a great color combo. It is always wild to me when countries get mash-up names. Saint Vincent is the largest and northernmost island composing this country and the remaining part is the northern two-thirds of a string of 32 islands known as the Grenadines. However, the southern third of the Grenadines is a separate country known as Grenada (Spoiler Alert: It appears next on this list). Bosnia and Herzegovina, Saint Kitts and Nevis, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Antigua and Barbuda are other such multihyphenate nations.

7. Grenada

While I was trying to memorize the many flags of the world, I attempted to create mnemonics to help trigger the name of the country by something I saw on the flag. With the country of Lebanon, for example, there is a large Cedar tree in the middle of the flag that is all green and is reminiscent of a Christmas tree. I remembered it because in the NBA, LeBron James always plays on Christmas. LeBron ---> Lebanon. Can you guess what I used for this flag? It might be a stretch to some, but the object on the left looks like flame. I saw it is as flame projectile that I extrapolated as a grenade. Grenade ---> Grenada. It is separate from the mnemonic for Montenegro, which has a holy water vessel that I call the Holy Hand Grenade from Antioch from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Monty ---> Montenegro. Sorry for delivering a tangential slice of brain cake. Tangential Slice of Brain Cake. Dibs on that as my band name!

8. South Korea

I took karate as a kid (That's right! Junior-Grade Brown, son!). It was Tae Kwon Do, a Korean martial art. This flag was hung on the wall in the dojo and I've always enjoyed the aesthetic. Each of the sets of 3 lines in the corners are meant to be elemental symbols (clockwise from top left: sky, water, earth, and fire). The white background represents light and purity, and it has a modified blue/red Yin-Yang in the middle. The real question is who had it first: South Korea or Pepsi?

9. Spain

So where is Spain? It is a western European nation on the Iberian Peninsula and there's a very real possibility it's one of the first one or two countries on this list that you have heard of and/or could find on a map. Another flag to employ the Gryffindor maroon and gold, it looks very elegant. It possess a crown-topped crest with a castle and a lion (also wearing a crown) on it and two robust pillars (also sporting crowns). It is a clean look, and it feels like they're giving out crowns like Oprah gives out cars.

10. Seychelles

Seychelles (pronounced SAY-shelz) is the smallest African nation, a collection of 115 islands well off the east coast of where Tanzania and Kenya meet the Indian Ocean. It is northeast of Madagascar. I love the flag for not only the breadth of color but the way that it radiates out of a single point in the bottom corner. It almost creates an optical illusion that makes the right edge look longer than the left edge instead of appearing as a true rectangle. The country is an archipelago, which is a dope word we just don't get to use often enough in everyday life, like sesquicentennial or rhubarb.

11. Cyprus

The Republic of Cyprus is a Middle-Eastern Island nation south of Turkey and west of Syria. It makes my list for a very fun reason. They put the actual shape of their country on their flag. The orangish-brown swordfish floating above the olive branches is the exact outline of their country as it roams free in the Mediterranean Sea. What a fun and unique idea! And so much less aggressive than the decision to put an AK-47 atop an open book, as was the choice on the Mozambique flag.

Final Thoughts

There are 195 countries in the world, so if you make your own list it may very well appear quite different from my own. There are a lot of very colorful ones and a lot of unique and meaningful symbolism sprinkled in. Barbados has a trident. Uganda has a crane (the bird) with a mohawk. Nepal has a flag that isn't rectangular or squarish. There are also some flags that look frustratingly similar to others. Chad and Romania look basically identical. Côte d'Ivoire (a.k.a. Ivory Coast) and Ireland have the same flag, just flipped 180 degrees. Malaysia and Liberia have flags that look suspiciously like our own. And don't get me started on Monaco, Indonesia, and Poland. In case you're curious, Jamaica and North Macedonia are the flags that just missed my list. Thanks for reading!