List of sovereign states by date of current flag adoption

This is a list of sovereign states by the date on which they adopted their current national flag.

For most of these states, the date of flag adoption is clear, but for others the exact date of flag adoption is unknown or disputed because of design changes. This list defines the year of flag adoption as the year since when the current flag has been used continuously to represent a nation, autonomous region or occupied state. Only countries which are currently sovereign states are listed, although the flag may have been adopted before the countries gained independence. The listed countries may have undergone fundamental regime changes, great geographical changes or even temporarily lost autonomy, or undergone political unions or secessions. If the flag remained in use during such events, its original adoption date is listed. Changes that do not alter the basic design of the flag, like the changes in ratio or color shade, restyling of emblems or inscriptions or the addition or removal of stars, are listed in the last column. The current flag design often evolved over the years (e.g. the flag of the United States) or can be a re-adoption of an earlier, historic flag (e.g. the flag of Libya). The year the current flag design first came into use is listed in the third column.

List Country Adoption of current flag design First use of current flag design Last change to current flag design (proportions formalized) (colours standardized) (merged with Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland following the Acts of Union 1800) (proportions standardized) (the star was kept completely upright) (number of stripes reduced and colour changed) (naval ensign) (colours standardized); current design reintroduced in 1830; current design becoming the default in 2020 (naval ensign) (proportions formalized) (coat of arms changed: yellow letters on red background replaced with black letters on colorless background, and the blue circle surrounding the star was removed) (as flag of the Ottoman Empire) (proportions standardized) (coat of arms modified) (as flag of Gran Colombia) (official pattern issued, all flags with arms modified) (proportions standardized) (coat of arms modified) (exact colours specified, sun disc is perfectly centered, and proportions fixed) (as English Red Ensign) (Designed by King Gojong or Pak Yeong-hyo) (when the exact color shades were last changed from their previous colors [set in 1997]. In 1948 the South Korean national assembly readopted this as the national flag with a modification of the taegeuk. The trigrams were moved into their current place in 1949. The exact dimensions were specified in 1984.) (removal of Union mark of Sweden and Norway) (modernized) (dimensions officially gazetted) (colour shades standardized) (naval jack of Cuba) (blue colors darkened) (or earlier) (removal of Union mark of Sweden and Norway) (changes to coat of arms) (as provincial flag within United States of Central America) (coat of arms modified) (replaced the blue-white flag of Kingdom of Portugal following the 5 October 1910 revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy) (as provincial flag within Federal Republic of Central America) (colours specified, and replaced with its own coat of arms) (colours standardized) (the Seal of Solomon is replaced by a green pentagram) (colours standardized) (colors darkened) (colors standardized) (by the Frankfurt Parliament) (when the exact colours were specified) (colors formalized) (proportions formalized) (upper left star and lower left quadrant changed to dark blue) (star introduced) (by the Guangzhou government) (standardization: ribbons under the Papal got yellow fringes; Papal tiara and keys slightly modified) (addition of crown) (tree slightly modified) (when the exact colours were changed) (star edges made sharper) (with Napoleon I) (when exact colours were specified; in 1946 the monarch's banner was removed, and the Italian Republic was proclaimed.) (Gandhian spinning wheel changed to Ashoka Chakra; colours formalized) (Partition of India) (ratio changed) (colours standardized) (crest added) (Hawaii admitted to the Union in 1959 added into the 50th star when it became a state) (modification) (removal of central stick figure) (crescent and star made bigger) (modernized; the faces disappeared from the sun and moon) (as flag of Malaya) (14-point star and 14 stripes after Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore joined the federation, remains unchanged in 1965 after Singapore was expelled and the addition of Putrajaya and Labuan in the flag) (merged with Tanganyika and Zanzibar) (background of George Cross changed to white) (green field changed to a lighter shade) (replaced with the Union Jack and Canadian Red Ensign) (removal of striped hoist after Independence) (white stripe changed back to original yellow) (ratio changed from 2:3 to 3:5) (First Mexican Empire flag) (coat of arms modified) (feathers changed to gray) (colour of the lower half changed from red to orange) (replaced the tricolor blue-yellow-green flag) (emblem on flag changed) (proportion modified) (removal of country's map) (as the flag of Ceylon) (four leaves of the Bo tree were added to the corners of the flag) (sword slightly changed) (colours changed to turquoise) (a yellow star added in the middle) (by the Lao Issara government) (communist takeover) (as Flag of the TTPI which had 6 stars above) (two stars removed due to reorganization of the Territory) (naval ensign) (land flag abolished) (re-adoption of coat of arms due to the collapse of Francisco Nguema regime) (national emblem added to center of flag and religious script added due to the Islamic Revolution) (standardized) (coat of arms replaced) (change of emblem on the left side of flag) (replaced the black-white-red tricolur of the Republic of Upper Volta flag) (As Arab Liberation Flag) (readoption of the 1859 flag due to the collapse of Duvalier regime) (ratio changed); current design reintroduced in 1988 (colours standardized) (as flag of North Yemen with a green star) (removal of green star) (first adopted in 1681) (removing the Kádár-coat of arms) (redesign of the coat of arms) (as flag of Dahomey) (re-adoption of the pre-communist flag) (ratio changed) (yellow side of green stars removed, but old design seldom use today) (emblem copied to reverse side) (removal of the state emblem) (colour shades standardized) (re-adoption of the pre-communist flag) (red star was replaced with coat of arms) (ratio and colours changed) (officially reintroduced after continuous popular use since 1991; identical to the former flag of the Moldavian SSR) (colours standardized) (blue shades darkened) (ratio changed) (addition of four stars after Amapá, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins became states) (last post-Soviet independent country to adopt the flag based on the colors of the flag of the Tajik SSR) (as the flag of Czechoslovakia) (ratio changed) (readoption of the 1948 flag) (replaced the apartheid-era flag) (middle band to equal size) (colours standardized) (replaced the 1992 design with a Vergina Sun against resisting pressure on neighboring Greece) (replaced the 1977 flag) (larger central disc) (restoration of 1978 flag) (updated minor changes) (present definitive shades of blue and red) (colours standardized) (replaced the previous red-yellow-green design with an "R" flag that had previously associated with the Rwandan genocide) (white points reduced to 5) (design based on the flag of the Kingdom of Georgia; approx. and disputed) (standardized) (first publication) (by the Principality of Serbia without coat of arms)D. Matic, Javno pravo Knjazevstva Srbije, Beograd, 1851, 33Српска државна застава у обновљеној Србији ("Политика", 1-4. мај 1937) (redesign of the coat of arms, exact colours defined) (return to 1966 design, colours changed to a lighter shade of blue) (addition of a star and removal of coat of arms) (replaced the 1987 flag) (removal of stars, slight change to script) (the yellow-green-red tricolor based on the short-lived Japanese puppet state of Burma) (readoption of the 1951 flag) (standardized design promoted by the Media Authority) (readoption of the 1964 flag) (improved of the 1957 flag design with the addition of red bands) (readoption of 1997 flag following the fall of Kabul) (redesign of sun symbol) (adoption of a modified version of the 1930 flag first seen in 2006 following the fall of the Assad regime) (change of colours)

List of sovereign states by date of current flag adoption

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