World Flags Quiz: Learn and Test All 197 Flags of the World

How to use the world flags quiz

This page starts in Learn mode with every flag of the world on one wall, sorted alphabetically from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. It works two ways:

• As a reference. With Names on, it's a complete flags of the world chart. Tap a flag to open its card: the country's capital, its region and continent, and any flags it's easy to confuse with.
• As a self-test. Turn Names off. Each flag shows only its picture; say the country out loud, then tap to reveal the name. It's a quick, low-pressure way to check what you know.

When you're ready for a scored round, switch to Practice (no timer), Quiz (timed, three tries each) or Challenge (60 seconds). Each mode offers three quiz types: Name the flag from four choices, Type the country, or Pick the flag for a named country. Your best score in each is saved on this device.

The 197 flags by region

Use Flags from to study one region at a time. The Americas are combined into one set of 35 flags. Each region also has its own page: the Europe flags quiz, African flags quiz, Asian flags quiz and Americas flags quiz.

Why 197?

Counting the world's flags means counting the world's countries, and people disagree about that. This quiz uses the same 197 places as our world map quiz:

• 193 United Nations member states. Every one has a seat in the General Assembly.
• 2 UN observer states. Vatican City and Palestine.
• 2 more that most atlases draw as countries. Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, and Taiwan, which governs itself and is claimed by China.

Territories aren't included, even though many have flags: Puerto Rico, Greenland, Hong Kong, the Faroe Islands, Bermuda, New Caledonia and others. Some sets of flag cards include them, so a "flags of the world" poster might show more than 197.

Ten facts about flags of the world

1. Nepal's flag is the only national flag that isn't a rectangle; it's two stacked pennants.
2. Switzerland and Vatican City have square flags.
3. Paraguay's flag has a different seal on each side.
4. Mozambique's flag shows a rifle with a bayonet, crossed with a hoe and on an open book.
5. Cyprus and Kosovo put a map of the country on their flags.
6. Red is the most common flag color; the great majority of national flags include it.
7. Libya once had a plain green flag with no design at all, from 1977 to 2011.
8. Bhutan's dragon and Sri Lanka's lion are two of the most detailed animal designs.
9. Denmark's flag is often called the oldest in continuous national use.
10. Indonesia and Monaco have nearly identical flags; Monaco objected when Indonesia adopted its flag in 1945, but both kept them.

How the flags are drawn here

Real flags come in many shapes. The official proportions of the US flag are 10 by 19, the United Kingdom's are 1 by 2, Belgium's are 13 by 15, and Qatar's are long and narrow at 11 by 28. To fit them on one wall, this quiz shows every flag in the same 4 by 3 frame, which is how most flag sets for apps and websites draw them. That means a few flags look a little different from the real thing: Switzerland's and Vatican City's square flags and Nepal's pennant sit inside the frame with space around them, and very long flags are slightly squeezed.

Colors are standardized too. Official flag laws often define exact shades, and some countries, such as Chad and Romania or Indonesia and Monaco, differ mainly in proportion or shade. On a screen those small differences can be hard to see, which is exactly why the look-alike pairs are worth studying together. The flag images come from flag-icons, an open-source set that tracks official changes; the credit and license are in the sources below.

Using the flag wall with a group

The wall works well on a classroom screen or a TV:

• Flag spotting. Call out a feature ("a flag with a star," "a flag with an animal," "a flag with no red") and have children find as many as they can.
• Color sort. Ask which colors appear most often. Children usually discover for themselves that red, white and blue are everywhere, and green is common in Africa and the Muslim world.
• Country of the day. Tap one flag each morning and read its card together, then find the country on the world map.

How to learn all 197 flags

It sounds like a lot, but most families find flags easier than capitals, because the pictures are memorable. A plan that works:

1. Week one: patterns. Spend a few sessions on the wall with names on, sorting flags in your head by pattern: tricolors, crosses, stars, crescents, emblems.
2. Week two: one region a day. Pick a region in Flags from, study it on the wall, then take a Practice round. Start with Europe or South America.
3. Week three: the look-alikes. Every time you miss a flag, read its "Looks like" line and study the pair together.
4. Week four: the whole world. Take the full timed Quiz on all 197. Retry missed until the list is empty.

Short daily rounds work better than long sessions.

Keep learning

For a speed round, play the flag game; for a relaxed one, guess the flag. Then connect each flag to its place with the world map quiz and its capital with the world capitals quiz. Geography subscriptions that mail a new country each month, like the programs below, pair well with a flag a day.