Nordic cross flags: how to tell them apart
All five share a cross shifted towards the hoist, so look at the colours: Denmark is white on red, Norway is white-edged blue on red, Sweden is yellow on blue, Finland is blue on white and Iceland is white-edged red on blue.
How to tell them apart
Denmark: white on red
Denmark's Dannebrog is red with a white cross. The cross is one seventh of the flag's height. It holds the Guinness record as the oldest national flag in continuous use, since 1625.
Norway: three colours on red
Norway's flag is red with a dark blue cross bordered in white. It was designed in 1821 by Fredrik Meltzer.
Sweden: yellow on blue
Sweden's flag is blue with a yellow cross, set officially as NCS 4055-R95B blue and NCS 0580-Y10R yellow.
Finland: blue on white
Finland's flag, the siniristilippu or Blue Cross Flag, is white with a sea-blue cross. It has an 11:18 ratio.
Iceland: three colours on blue
Iceland's flag is blue with a red cross bordered in white, the reverse of Norway. It was adopted on 17 June 1944, the day Iceland became a republic.
Bert's facts
- Denmark: Denmark has just one land neighbour: Germany.
- Iceland: Iceland shares no land border with another country.
Quick quiz
More lookalike flags
- Norway vs Iceland flag
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Denmark vs Switzerland flag -
Netherlands vs Luxembourg flag -
France vs Netherlands flag -
Slovenia vs Slovakia vs Russia flag -
Haiti vs Liechtenstein flag
See all lookalike flags or get the full list as a dataset.
Sources
- Flag of Denmark, Wikipedia
- Flag of Norway, Wikipedia
- Flag of Sweden, Wikipedia
- Flag of Finland, Wikipedia
- Flag of Iceland, Wikipedia
