# Red white & blue flags **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 26, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060 "2021-06-26T14:14:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/1 "2021-06-26T14:14:25Z")
I saw some reference to a red white and blue flag, and idly wondered what percentage of current national flags fit that description. “A lot” was my guess. So, my criteria: 1. Flags must have all 3 colours. Two is not enough. Multiple shades of red or blue are allowable, but didn’t end up being an issue. 2. Flags must have **no other colours** , including black. Straight RWB, nothing else, no exceptions. 3. Current national flags of actual countries, nothing that’s a maybe sort of country. No micronations or other small fry. So, what’s the count? 22 or 23, depending on whether you count Taiwan, which I do. Not going to list them because that’d spoil the fun of people who want to check my numbers and argue my definitions. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/2 "2021-06-26T14:45:38Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Flags must have all 3 colours. Two is not enough. Multiple shades of red or blue are allowable, but didn’t end up being an issue. Huh, I had thought for sure that some of the flags incorporating the Union Jack specified two slightly different shades of blue, but looking up Australia and New Zealand (the two I thought of specifically), this isn’t an issue for either of them. Tuvalu does have two very different shades of blue, but its stars are yellow, which disqualifies it from this discussion (as well as probably the “no micronations” rule). Anyway, Australia and New Zealand are both on the list, as of course is the UK. And the US, France, and Russia are also pretty obvious. It’s also kind of surprising how many are just red and white, without the blue, but you already said you weren’t interested in that. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/3 "2021-06-26T17:10:48Z")
Let’s build the list. Here’s a few of the top of my head. Add as you think of some: 1. Australia 2. France 3. Iceland 4. Korea (People’s Republic) 5. Nepal 6. Netherlands 7. New Zealand 8. Norway 9. Russia 10. Thailand 11. UK 12. US ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/4 "2021-06-26T17:37:37Z")
1. Czechia 2. Slovakia 3. Slovenia (I remember these because I can never remember which is which). Edit: 16. Croatia, too ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/5 "2021-06-26T20:33:33Z")
17 Luxembourg. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/6 "2021-06-27T02:21:47Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > Slovenia Slovenia’s flag has little yellow stars on the coat of arms or whatever it is. Disqualified. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/7 "2021-06-27T02:24:47Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > Croatia, too Croatia also has yellow and black on the shieldy things. As a rule of thumb, any flag with coats of arms etc probably has black/yellow/green in small amounts. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/8 "2021-06-27T02:25:54Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > > [@Falchion](#): > > > > Slovenia > > Slovenia’s flag has little yellow stars on the coat of arms or whatever it is. Disqualified. - Which countries don’t have stars upon thars? ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/9 "2021-06-27T02:27:33Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Which countries don’t have stars upon thars? Red white or blue stars are A-OK. So, the US, New Zealand, etc: qualified. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/10 "2021-06-27T03:01:48Z")
Since Slovenia and Croatia are disqualified: 1. Taiwan 2. Chile 3. Costa Rica 4. Cuba 5. North Korea 6. Liberia 7. Panama 8. Samoa ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/11 "2021-06-27T03:54:55Z")
Why no micronations? If they’re nations, they’re nations. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/12 "2021-06-27T04:18:41Z")
> [@susan](#): > > If they’re nations, they’re nations. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/13 "2021-06-27T04:40:16Z")
You’re counting North Korea twice. I had it on my list under « K » . ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/14 "2021-06-27T04:54:16Z")
This water is muddier than that. A nation may have a civil ensign, a state ensign, a naval ensign and a war ensign, any of which can have the form of a “flag”. Ofte, the basic colors have a device added, such as a coat of arms. Are we counting the flags (e.g. Dominican Republic) which are RWB but usually shown with the coat of arms? > **[Civil ensign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_ensign)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > A civil ensign is an ensign (maritime flag) used by civilian vessels to denote their nationality. It can be the same or different from the state ensign and the naval ensign (or war ensign). It is also known as the merchant ensign or merchant flag. Some countries have special civil ensigns for yachts, and even for specific yacht clubs, known as yacht ensigns. > Most countries have only one national flag and ensign for all purposes. In other countrie... ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/15 "2021-06-27T05:21:36Z")
Iceland Norway ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/16 "2021-06-27T05:36:30Z")
If we stick to generally recognised current nations, we have a couple of hundred, an easy amount to deal with. Though, as I noted with Taiwan, not without some level of controversy. If we start counting kinda-sorta countries, it’s a slippery slope. If we allow Puerto Rico - which has a very attractive RWB flag - then why not all the other dependencies and similar almost-countries? Why not the [Free Territory of Freedomland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Territory_of_Freedomland) which also has an attractive RWB flag? And then why not US states, some of which have larger populations than many smaller countries? And that’s also true of other Federations like Germany and Australia. And then there’s historic flags like the Confederate flag, or the Republic of Texas. Some fine RWB designs there too, as long as you’re not bothered by what the first one represents. People saluted those flags, they fought and died under them, why not include them too? Slippery slope. There are probably thousands of different flags that are red white and blue, we can’t count them all. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/17 "2021-06-27T07:31:10Z")
Okay. I was confused when **Chronos** referred to Tuvalu as a probably a micronation, since it’s a nation, not a disputed entity. I thought maybe you were excluding microstates. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/18 "2021-06-27T08:48:39Z")
Nah, Tuvalu is OK with me. I’m just going by the Wikipedia list of sovereign states, that’s definitive enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2021, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/19 "2021-06-27T09:42:11Z")
1 Australia 2 Chile 3 Costa Rica 4 Cuba 5 Czechia 6 France 7 Iceland 8 Nth Korea 9 Laos 10 Liberia 11 Luxembourg 12 Nepal 13 Netherlands 14 New Zealand 15 Norway 16 Panama 17 Russia 18 Samoa 19 Slovakia 20 Thailand 21 UK 22 USA 23 Taiwan That’s my list, feel free to check for errors and omissions. Speaking of micronations, there are a few beauties and a lot of WTFs on the [Flags of micronations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_micronations) Wiki page. Only 5 of them are Red White & Blue by my count. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060/20 "2021-06-28T04:53:58Z")
Tuvalu was admitted as the 189th full member of the United Nations in 2000. I don’t know what else they have to do to become recognized as a nation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/red-white-blue-flags/945060.md?page=2)