Best and Worst National Flags

[Gavin Chipper]

What do you think? Obviously the Union Jack (I'm on a boat - shut up) is an absolute aesthetic abomination, and even more so with its weird asymmetries, and a national embarrassment. I'd also say any flag that is just three colours in stripes is pretty terrible for its lack of imagination. But what are the good ones?

[Mark James]

I love most flags. Really hard to pick a favourite. Bhutan maybe? Even if they are just three stripes of colours I still like them especially if the colour choice is good like Estonia or Armenia . Chad and Romania lose points for being the same . Worst has to be Indonesia , Monaco and Poland .

[Tom S]

North Macedonia for the win.

[Ben Wilson]

Not a country in the Pointless definition of the word, but Artsakh's flag wins points for looking like it's been invaded by something from an Atari 2600 game.

[Marc Meakin]

Canada
Wales
Mexico

[Gavin Chipper]

A couple of sites ranking the flags.

Wales comes top in one of those lists (though obviously it's not a "proper" country being part of the UK) so some agreement with Marc there. That list also has Canada 5th and Mexico 9th.

[Dave Robjohns]

Seychelles top for me. North Macedonia, Cambodia, Uganda and Saint Lucia probably round off my top 5.

Not so keen on Turkmenistan, Morocco and any that are annoyingly close together (the ones Mark mentioned but also Guinea/Mali, India/Niger, Ireland/IvoryCoast & half the middle east) and Haiti's is naff from a distance. Libya are glad this thread didn't exist 10 years ago.

[Johnny Canuck]

Mozambique, in a kind of dystopian way. Also Spain for going outside the box with its colour choices - pink lion anyone?

[Rhys Benjamin]

United Kingdom, North Macedonia very good...

... but the correct answer is Central African Republic.

[JimBentley]

United Kingdom...very good

No it isn't. It's terrible on many levels. Didn't you read Gavin's post?

Obviously the Union Jack (I'm on a boat - shut up) is an absolute aesthetic abomination, and even more so with its weird asymmetries, and a national embarrassment.

It's become even harder to take seriously in the past couple of years following its risible fetishization by Tory politicians. In every Zoom interview, Tory ministers would appear with bigger and bigger Union Flags behind them. Let's not forget they're appearing in a room in their own house in these interviews. Nobody has a fucking eight foot Union flag in their house! And what, we're supposed to believe that because they have a humongous flag then they must be super-patriotic? Jesus wept. They really must think people are thick as shit.

I'd go further than Gavin, the United Kingdom flag isn't just a national embarrassment, it's a national joke.

[Rhys Benjamin]

I like those idiosyncrasies that Gevin dislikes. Capiche?

[Tom S]

North Macedonia for the win.

Having said that, surprised no one has mentioned that Switzerland'd flag is a big plus...

[Johnny Canuck]

North Macedonia for the win.

Having said that, surprised no one has mentioned that Switzerland'd flag is a big plus...

But the blue in the Scottish flag is behind the times.

[Gavin Chipper]

The Nepalese flag is interesting, if nothing else.

[Gavin Chipper]

I just came here to post that any flag that has just the three colours of red, white and blue is disqualified for being terribly unoriginal. Unfortunately that takes out the Nepal flag that I posted above. This site lists 29 countries with red, white and blue flags. According to this site, there are over 50 countries and territories.

[Gavin Chipper]

I just came here to post that any flag that has just the three colours of red, white and blue is disqualified for being terribly unoriginal. Unfortunately that takes out the Nepal flag that I posted above. This site lists 29 countries with red, white and blue flags. According to this site, there are over 50 countries and territories.

Also, I would say a flag is better if it has simple patterns and shapes that can be easily reproduced, so something like the Welsh flag, which is generally considered to be one of the better ones, would lose points on this.

[Mark Deeks]

Since neither I nor anyone should yield to the self-appointed authority of Gev, I would like an honorable mention for the following, which is not a national flag, but nearly was, coming fourth in the New Zealand flag referendum in 2016. I enjoy its simple majesty and colour contrasts.

[Mark Deeks]

And on a regional administrative level, I hereby anoint the winner of the world Best County Flag competition to this absolute belter from River Gee County, Liberia.