This is a list of sovereign states by the date in 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.
| Country | Adoption of current flag design | First use of current flag design | Last change to current flag design | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | (proportions formalized) | |||
| [2] | – | (colours formalized) | ||
| (merged with Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland) | ||||
| (proportions standardized) | ||||
| (the national coat of arms disappeared and the star was kept completely upright) | ||||
| (sun of may modified, number of stripes reduced and colour changed) | ||||
| (naval ensign) | (colours standardized); current design reintroduced in 1830;[3] current design becoming the default in 2020[4] | |||
| (naval ensign) | (proportions formalized) | |||
| (coat of arms modified) | ||||
| (proportions standardized) | ||||
| (coat of arms modified) | ||||
| (modernized) | ||||
| (official pattern issued, all flags with arms modified)[5] | ||||
| [6] | (proportions standardized) | |||
| [7] (change of colours) | ||||
| (exact colours specified, sun disc is perfectly centered, and proportions fixed) | ||||
| [8] | ||||
| (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. | |||
| (present definitive shades of blue and red) | ||||
| (removal of Union mark of Norway and Sweden) | ||||
| (dimensions officially gazetted) | ||||
| (naval jack of Cuba) | ||||
| (dimensions defined) | ||||
| (or earlier) | (removal of Union mark of Norway and Sweden) | |||
| (changes to coat of arms) | ||||
| [9] | ||||
| (colours standardized) | ||||
| (as provincial flag within Federal Republic of Central America) | (colours specified, and replaced with its own coat of arms) | |||
| (the Seal of Solomon is replaced by a green pentagram) | ||||
| (colours standardized)[10] | ||||
| (colors standardized)[11] | ||||
| (colors changed) | ||||
| (by the Frankfurt Parliament)[12] | (when the exact colours were specified)[13] | |||
| (colors formalized) | ||||
| (star introduced) | ||||
| (proportions formalized) | ||||
| (by the Guangzhou government) | ||||
| (upper left star and lower left quadrant changed to dark blue) | ||||
| (Papal tiara and keys modified) | ||||
| (addition of crown) | ||||
| (tree slightly modified) | ||||
| (when the exact colours were changed) | ||||
| (star edges made sharper) | ||||
| (Gandhian spinning wheel changed to Ashoka Chakra; colours formalized) | ||||
| (with Napoleon I) | (when exact colours were specified). In 1946 the monarch's banner was removed, and the Italian Republic was proclaimed. | |||
| [14] | (standardization, star and disc sizes changed) | |||
| (standardization of the colours) | ||||
| (1681) | (removing the Rákosi-coat of arms) | |||
| (crest added) | ||||
| (addition of a star after Hawaii became a state) | ||||
| (modification) | ||||
| (removal of central stick figure) | ||||
| (crescent and star made bigger) | ||||
| (modernized; the faces disappeared from the sun and moon) | ||||
| (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) | ||||
| (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) | ||||
| (emblem on flag changed) | ||||
| (proportion modified) | ||||
| (coat of arms modified) | ||||
| (as provincial flag within United States of Central America) | (coat of arms modified) | |||
| (removal of country's map) | ||||
| (four leaves of the Bo tree were added to the corners of the flag) | ||||
| [15] | ||||
| (sword slightly changed) | ||||
| (colours changed to turquoise) | ||||
| (a yellow star added in the middle) | ||||
| (by the Lao Issara government) | (communist takeover) | |||
| (yellow side of green stars removed, but old design seldom use today) | ||||
| (naval ensign) | (land flag abolished) | |||
| (re-adoption of coat of arms due to the collapse of Francisco Nguema regime) | ||||
| (as Flag of the TTPI which had 6 stars above) | (two stars removed due to reorganization of the Territory) | |||
| (national emblem added to center of flag and religious script added due to the Islamic Revolution) | ||||
| (coat of arms replaced) | ||||
| (standardized) | ||||
| [16] | (change of emblem on the left side of flag) | |||
| (as Arab Liberation Flag) | ||||
| (re-adoption due to the collapse of Duvalier regime) | ||||
| (ratio changed) | ||||
| (removed emblem) | ||||
| (emblem copied to reverse side) | ||||
| (ratio changed) | ||||
| (when the exact colour shades were last changed from their previous colours set in 2004) | ||||
| (redesign of the coat of arms) | ||||
| [17] | (ratio and colours changed) | |||
| (removal of the state emblem) | ||||
| (red star was replaced with coat of arms) | ||||
| (colours standardized) | ||||
| (ratio changed, carpet altered) | ||||
| (addition of four stars after Amapá, Rondônia, Roraima and Tocantins became states) | ||||
| [18] | ||||
| [19] | (ratio changed) | |||
| (re-adoption) | ||||
| (middle band to equal size) | ||||
| (colours standardized)[20] | ||||
| (larger central disc) | ||||
| (restoration of 1978 flag) | ||||
| (colours standardized) | ||||
| (white points reduced to 5) | ||||
| [21] | ||||
| (approx. and disputed) | (minor change to geometry of the Bolnisi crosses)[22] | |||
| (by the Principality of Serbia without coat of arms)[23] [24] | (redesign of the coat of arms, exact colours defined) | |||
| (first publication) | ||||
| [25] | (return to 1966 design, colours changed to a lighter shade of blue) | |||
| (addition of a star) | ||||
| (removal of stars, slight change to script) | ||||
| (readoption of the 1951 flag) | ||||
| [26] | (colours standardized by the media) [27] [28] | |||
| [29] [30] | (readoption of the 1964 flag) | |||
| (addition of red bands) | ||||
| [31] (redesign of sun symbol) |