The flag of Earth is a conceptual idea proposing a unified flag design that represents the entire planet rather than any single nation, culture, or political entity. Its purpose is to symbolize Earth as a shared home, the collective identity of humankind, or even the aspirations of a future world government. Over time, artists, designers, activists, and visionaries have created numerous proposals for what such a flag might look like. Each design highlights different aspects of our global identity—some emphasize the planet's natural features, such as oceans and continents, while others focus on themes like peace, unity, cooperation, or humanity's place in the universe. These flags often appear in discussions about global citizenship, space exploration, and international collaboration, reflecting the idea that despite national borders, all people ultimately belong to one interconnected world.
Proposed flags of Earth Earth Flag (1969)
During 1969, peace activist John McConnell proposed his design titled the Earth Flag. The current version of the flag consists of The Blue Marble, a photograph of Earth taken on 7 December 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 on its way to the Moon. The planet is placed on the dark blue background. Prior to 1973, the flag design used photograph no. 69HC487, taken by the crew of the Apollo 10 on 18 May 1969. The early flag versions also had more simplified designs, depicting white outlines of the clouds, on the light blue circle, instead of the more detailed photograph of the planet.John McConnell: The History of the Earth Flag. In: The Flag Bulletin, March/April 1982.Weir: Peace, Justice, Care of Earth. Press On Publishing, 2007, ISBN 0-9717491-2-4.
The design debuted at the Moon Watch event in Central Park, New York City, on 20 July 1969, during which, people watched and celebrated the first Moon landing done by the crew of the Apollo 11. On 22 April 1970, McConnell organized the first Earth Day, in San Francisco, California, at which his flags were used. Since then, the flag has become widely associated with Earth Day. In 1992, astronaut Anatoly Berezovoy carried the Earth Flag with him during his time in space.
Flag of Planet Earth (1970)
In May 1970, James W. Cadle, a farmer from Homer, Illinois, proposed his version of the flag of Earth, that consisted of a blue circle representing the Earth, placed in the centre of the flag, in front of a segment of a larger yellow circle, representing the Sun, placed on the left side of the flag, and a smaller white circle, representing the Moon, located in the bottom right corner of the flag, with everything placed on a black background, representing outer space. It gained popularity among the SETI researchers and is flown at numerous SETI research facilities around the world. Notably, the flag flew at the Ohio State University Radio Observatory, in Delaware, Ohio. On 23 December 1996, in honour of the death of Carl Sagan three days prior, the flag was flown there at half-mast.
The flag was originally distributed by Earth Flag Co. International, which was founded by Cadle. The design entered the public domain in 2003. Following Cadle's death, the flag distribution is being continued by North American Astrophysical Observatory.
The World Flag (1988)
In 1988, Paul Carroll proposed a design titled The World Flag, that combined the flags of 159 member states of the United Nations. It was created to promote the global unity and cooperation. The flag depicted the national flags placed next to each other. In the centre of the flag was placed a Dymaxion map of the world. The design was updated in 1992, expanding the number of flags included to the total of 230, adding all national flags used at the time, and additionally including the flag of the United Nations, and flags of the various self-governed dependant territories. The flag was again updated in 2006, 2008, and 2011, to accommodate for the changes of the national flags and political events. Through the redesigns, the map in the centre of the flag was also changed.Sarah Grigg: The World Flag Project, In: NAVA News. January–March. North American Vexillological Association. p. 5-8.
International Flag of Planet Earth (2015)
In 2015, Swedish designer Oskar Pernefeldt proposed a flag called the International Flag of Planet Earth. The design consists of the first stage to the flower of life (seven joined rings of same radius, with the six outer rings drawn around the first ring spaced exactly one radian apart). The shape represents the life on the planet, and the connection of everything on it to everything else. The number of circles also may be seen to represent the seven continents of the planet. The symbol is placed on a dark blue background, which represents water, the essential of the planet's life, and the oceans, which cover most of the surface of Earth. The aspect ratio of the height of the flag to its width is 2:3.
Oskar Pernefeldt designed the flag as a graduate thesis, but the flag quickly became popular internationally. The release of a press kit inspired widespread media attention, and the website Pernefeldt created for the flag received more than half a million views in its first 24 hours. Many outlets speculated about the design's use in space travel, particularly humans reaching Mars.
The International Flag of Planet Earth Organization (IFOPE-O) is a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization founded by Pernefeldt to promote the proposal. Its mission is to make this flag recognized as the flag of Earth, by serving as its awareness agency.
The One World Flag (2016)
In 2016, photographer Thomas Mandl unveiled the One World Flag: a simple design featuring a blue dot at its center, meant to represent the planet. Because a traditional round flag was impractical, the design uses a transparent rectangular field in the usual 2:3 ratio, allowing the flag's background to change with its surroundings. Mandl stated that in this way, the flag was a dynamic symbol of Earth itself, always changing, just like the world it stood for.
Mandl introduced the project in 2018 to continue the conversation around a shared global flag, and in 2019 he began distributing One World Flags worldwide to raise planetary solidarity.
Proposed flags with underlying themes World Peace Flag of Earth (1913)
In 1913, James Charles van Kirk, a Methodist minister from Youngstown, Ohio, designed the first known flag proposed to the peace flag and the flag of Earth. The design includes the rainbow flag on the left, consisting of red, green, yellow, orange, blue, purple, and pink stripes. To the right is depicted a brown globe with coordinate grid including the latitude lines, that go from the longitude lines of the north and south polar circles. In the middle of the globe is placed a white horizontal stripe. The globe is connected to the rainbow flag via thin white stripes going from the side of the white stripe on the globe, to the outer boundaries of the coloured stripes on the rainbow flag. Both object are placed on the dark blue background with 46 stars surrounding them.Haagse Beeldbank; photocollection of the Municipal Archive of The Hague (the Netherlands) nrs. 1.02811 and 5.12996.
In 1913, and 1929, Kirk made a peace tour through Europe with his flag, promoting "the brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God". The Universal Peace Congress adopted Kirk's design as its official World Peace Flag. It was subsequently adopted by the American Peace Society as well as other groups.
Citizen of the World Flag (1937)
The flag was presented by George Dibbern on July 1, 1937, and the reason for its creation was the reluctance to use the flag of Nazi Germany on his yacht Te Rapunga. In 1939 residency was denied Dibbern as he refused to take up arms for any country and he became widely known as a "man without a country". In 1940, in San Francisco, eight years before American actor and peace activist Garry Davis renounced his citizenship, Dibbern created his own passport declaring himself a "Friend of all peoples" and a "Citizen of the World." He described his flag with these words: It has a white ground with a red cross of St. George cutting a dark blue circle; and in the upper left corner is a blue star. The white stands for equal rights — not equality, but equal rights for men to evolve, each according to his individuality. On this right the human world stands or falls. The dark blue circle stands for the brotherhood of man, for though we fight like brothers we must grow a loyalty to our one family if we are to survive. On top of the circle of brotherhood lies the red cross of freedom and of pain. It is through freedom to experience, and the pain experience brings, that we learn. The blue circle also represents a planet, like the earth, which receives its light from the sun as we have received our light from God. But I believe that God is within each of us, and that our aim should be to be conscious of him, to become a self-shining light, a star. So the star in the comer represents my aim. It is a blue star because I try to become a brother of a new brotherhood.
The Brotherhood Flag (1938)
In 1938, the Minnesota-based World Peace Association unveiled a flag to represent all humanity. Called the "Brotherhood Flag", it consisted of five equal horizontal stripes of red, white, brown, yellow, and black.
The World Peace Association described their flag this way:
This flag was carried at peace marches in the 1960s and may have helped inspire designer Gilbert Baker to create the rainbow flag celebrating LGBT+ rights in 1978.
Blue Dot Flag (2019)
In 2019, Dutch designer Tijs Bonekamp proposed a flag called the Blue Dot Flag, after the Pale Blue Dot photograph of the Earth. His design consists of a blue circle centered in a green field, and resembles a minimalist, easy-to-draw version of the Earth Flag. The blue circle is a representation of the planet Earth while the pale green stands for all its biodiversity. The aspect ratio of the height of the flag to its width is 2:3. The flag is registered as a nonprofit organization, the Blue Dot Foundation.
The Blue Dot aims to be a unifying, non-political symbol of hope for the Earth's natural space health. Its use is intended for everyone who feels connected to the planet and for everyone who wants to help raising awareness in a context of Earth degradation and climate change.
Flags of international organizations United Nations
The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization. It consists of 193 members, representing almost all of the world's sovereign states.
Its flag features a geographical representation of the planet, and its high visibility makes it a well-known candidate to represent Earth. During planning for NASA's lunar landings in the 1960s, it was even suggested that the United Nations flag be used instead of the United States flag.