How can you tell the flags of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland apart?

Denmark: a white cross on red. Sweden: a yellow cross on blue. Norway: a blue cross with a white border, on red. Finland: a blue cross on white. Iceland: a red cross with a white border, on blue.

Quizzes / Flags that look alike / Nordic Cross Flags

Nordic Cross Flags

All five have a cross shifted towards the flagpole, the Nordic cross. Tell them by colour: Denmark is a white cross on red, Sweden a yellow cross on blue, Finland a blue cross on white. Norway and Iceland have a cross with a border, with their colours swapped: Norway is red with a blue cross, Iceland blue with a red cross.

DenmarkLook for a white cross on red.
SwedenLook for a yellow cross on blue.
NorwayLook for a blue cross with a white border, on red.
FinlandLook for a blue cross on white.
IcelandLook for a red cross with a white border, on blue.

At a glance

	Denmark	Sweden	Norway	Finland	Iceland
Background	Red	Blue	Red	White	Blue
Cross	White	Yellow	Blue, white border	Blue	Red, white border
Shape	28:37	5:8	8:11	11:18	18:25

Test yourself

Two of these flags at a time. The last rounds show the flags smaller, the way they look on a phone.

The flags our players swap most

In our flag games the Nordic crosses are the most swapped family: about 20 mix-ups between them so far. Denmark and Sweden lead (6 times), then Denmark and Finland (5) and Finland and Sweden (4). The cross is the same shape on every flag, so the cross tells you nothing: only the colours do.

Where the cross comes from

Denmark's flag, the Dannebrog, is one of the oldest national flags still in use. The other Nordic countries took its cross shape and gave it their own colours: Sweden blue and yellow from its coat of arms, Norway red, white and blue in 1821, Finland blue and white in 1918, and Iceland blue, white and red in 1918.