flag-mirrors-01

FLAG MIRRORS, OPPOSITES AND DUPLICATES

These days there are over two hundred nations around the globe. Each one has its own national flag. However, not all national flags are unique or easily distinguished from other national flags. A few are identical to one or more nation's flags. Several other flags are difficult to distinguish when hanging from a pole with no breeze. Official differences in proportions are negated by flag manufacturers that produce their products using only standard sizes regardless of the legal specifications. There are also some that are exact opposites. This page shows several examples. If you have suggestions that could be added, please email the author.

Andorra, Chad, Moldova and Romania. Chad and Romania are identical. Andorra and Moldova are very similar to the other two except for the centre device. If these flags were hanging from a flagpole on a windless afternoon they would be difficult to identify.
Andorra	Chad	Moldova	Romania
Cote Iviore and Ireland. These two flags are exact mirrors. Other than for proportions, it is impossible to distiguish them apart in the field.		The flags of Costa Rica and Thailand are horizontal tri-colours. The colour arrangements are exact opposites.
Cote Iviore	Ireland	Costa Rica	Thailand
El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua use the same basic flag with unique centre devices. Differentiating between these three national flags on the ground would be almost impossible.
El Salvador	Honduras	Nicaragua
Here are four flags from the Arab World. Egypt and Syria were joined briefly as the United Arab Republic. Syria has retained that flag while Egypt has gone through several changes before adopting the present design. Iraq uses the same horizontal tri-colour design with three stars and Arabic text. Yemen, now a merger of Yemen-Sana and Yemen-Aden, uses the same tri-colour without any decorations.
Egypt	Iraq	Syria	Yemen
Indonesia, Monaco and Poland all use a red-white bicolour flag. Singapore uses a similar flag with the addition of stars and a crescent in the upper hoist canton. Which flag is that trailing off the stern of that ship in the harbour?
Indonesia	Monaco	Poland	Singapore
The flags of Mali and Senegal are identical except for the star. Guinea is a mirror of both Mali and Senegal.
Mali	Senegal	Guinea
India and Niger are essentially identical except for the centre device and the shade of the top stripe.		The common flags of Colombia and Ecuador are identical. In official use they are differentiated by the national seal on the Ecuadorian flag.
India	Niger	Colombia	Ecuador
Luxembourg, Netherlands and Paraguay. Luxembourg nad Netherlands are identical except for the shade of blue. A faded Dutch flag would be identical to that of Luxembourg. Netherlands and Paraguay are identical except for the centre device on the Paraguyan flag.
Luxembourg	Netherlands	Paraguay
These flags are very similar. All are red fields with blue cantons. They differ by having unique devices in the cantons and different proportions.
Myanmar	Samoa	Taiwan

All basic flags modified from images available on the World Flag Database.
Prepared by Philip R. Abbey. Uploaded 18 December 2005. Comments to Phil Abbey at pr_abbey@hotmail.com