The world's flags given letter grades

Grades by name of country


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Weapons

Graven Images

Afghanistan

C 56 / 100

This is the flag used in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion (and now used by the Northern Alliance). The Taliban flag was naver recognised by the UN (it is black and white with writing on it, and would receive a much lower grade).

Albania

B- 65 / 100

Eyewatering

Algeria

C+ 60 / 100

Graven Images

American Samoa

D- 39 / 100

Given the awfulness of other US designed flags, they have had a lucky escape.


Too busy

Andorra

C- 53 / 100

Weapons

Corporate Logo

Angola

B- 65 / 100

Machete on flag nicely depicted but not wise idea.


Colonial Nonsense

Anguilla

D 41 / 100

Too busy

Antigua and Barbuda

C 55 / 100

Good Colours

Argentina

B 70 / 100

Bad Colours

Armenia

B- 65 / 100

Hideous Colours

Aruba

D 40 / 100

Yeeech! Colours designed to cause pain.


Colonial Nonsense

Too many stars

Australia

C 55 / 100

Simple

Austria

B+ 75 / 100

Bad Colours

Bad Shape

Eyewatering

Azerbaijan

B- 65 / 100

Bad Colours

Bahamas

B- 65 / 100

Yuurgh... awful colours, but not quite as bad as Aruba.


Good Colours

Simple

Bahrain

B 70 / 100

Plagiarism

Bad Colours

Eyewatering

Bangladesh

C+ 60 / 100

Good Colours

Barbados

B- 65 / 100

Silly trident thing looks ridiculous.


Bad Colours

Too busy

Belarus

D- 39 / 100

Good Shape

Belgium

B+ 75 / 100

Writing!

Graven Images

Too busy

Belize

D 40 / 100

Simple

Benin

B- 65 / 100

Bad Colours

Colonial Nonsense

Bermuda

D 40 / 100

Graven Images

Bhutan

D+ 45 / 100

Plagiarism

Bad Tricolour

Bolivia

B- 65 / 100

Corporate Logo

Too many stars

Too busy

Bosnia and Herzegovina

C+ 64 / 100

Good Colours

Simple

Botswana

B+ 79 / 100

Writing!

Too busy

Brazil

D- 35 / 100

Starmap original but atrocious. Worst flag of any independent nation state.


Writing!

Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Too busy

British Virgin Islands

D 40 / 100

Bad Colours

Bad Shape

Too busy

Brunei

D 40 / 100

Appears to involve a moustache sprouting from a flagpole.


Bad Colours

Bulgaria

C+ 60 / 100

Possibly worst traditional tricolour.


Bad Colours

Eyewatering

Burkina Faso

C+ 64 / 100

Too busy

Burundi

B- 65 / 100

Graven Images

Cambodia

C 55 / 100

Bad Tricolour

Cameroon

B 70 / 100

Graven Images

Canada

A- 80 / 100

Hmm... that maple leaf? A difficult question, but I think not quite stylised enough.


Corporate Logo

Eyewatering

Cape Verde

C 55 / 100

Writing!

Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Too busy

Cayman Islands

D 40 / 100

Original

Too busy

Central African Republic

C- 50 / 100

Do not attempt to disprove the four-colour theorem on your flag! (This goes for you, too, Mauritius).


Bad Tricolour

Chad

B- 65 / 100

Chile

A- 80 / 100

Too many stars

China

B 73 / 100

Maps!

Graven Images

Too busy

Christmas Island

D 42 / 100

Original

Colombia

B- 65 / 100

Writing!

Good Colours

Too many stars

Too busy

Comoros

D+ 48 / 100

Too many stars

Congo (formerly Zaire)

B 74 / 100

This is the one whose capital is Kinshasa.


Colonial Nonsense

Too many stars

Cook Islands

C 55 / 100

Too busy

Costa Rica

C 55 / 100

Plagiarism

Bad Tricolour

Cote D'Ivoire

B 70 / 100

Too busy

Croatia

C 55 / 100

Cuba

A 85 / 100

Maps!

Bad Colours

Cyprus

D 40 / 100

What can I say? The mother of all flags with maps on them.

Czech Republic

B 70 / 100

Simple

Denmark

B 74 / 100

Djibouti

B 74 / 100

Bad Colours

Graven Images

Too busy

Dominica

D 40 / 100

Do not put a picture of a parrot on your flag! (This goes for you too, Guatamala!)

Dominican Republic

B 70 / 100

Plagiarism

Graven Images

Too busy

Ecuador

C+ 64 / 100

The Columbian flag was not very good to begin with, fine effort from Ecuador making it worse.


Good Colours

Graven Images

Egypt

C+ 60 / 100

Writing!

Bad Colours

Too busy

El Salvador

D- 36 / 100

Not only did they write the name of country on the flag, but its full mailing address, in a living language.


Writing!

Graven Images

Equatorial Guinea

D+ 45 / 100

Bad Colours

Eritrea

C+ 60 / 100

Estonia

B- 65 / 100

Too busy

Ethiopia

C 55 / 100

Writing!

Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Too busy

Falkland Islands

D- 38 / 100

Worst UK colonial flag. Has a sheep on it. Actually, if you look closely, you can see that the sheep is riding on top of an island, which is riding on top of a ship. Also the stupid slogan is in English, and is a platitude.

Faroe Islands

A- 80 / 100

Nicest of the cross flags so popular in Scandinavia.


Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Too busy

Fiji

D 40 / 100

Features a picture of a lion rolling a cigarette (cf. Sri Lanka)


Good Colours

Simple

Finland

B+ 76 / 100

Original

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

C+ 60 / 100

Looks unfortunately like a target.

France

B 70 / 100

Too busy

French Polynesia

C- 54 / 100

Good Colours

Bad Tricolour

Gabon

B+ 75 / 100

Good Colours

Gambia

A+ 90 / 100

Great design and colour choice. Also represents the geography of the country (without being a map).


Bad Colours

Georgia

C+ 60 / 100

Germany

B 70 / 100

Plagiarism

Ghana

B 70 / 100

Graven Images

Gibraltar

C 55 / 100

Nice lack of colonial nonsense for a UK territory. Still too many graven images, though.


Eyewatering

Original

Greece

B 70 / 100

Impressively eyewatering, with only two colours.


Eyewatering

Greenland

C+ 60 / 100

Possibly most eyewatering flag in existence.


Too many stars

Too busy

Grenada

D 40 / 100

What is that thing on the left?


Writing!

Graven Images

Too busy

Guam

F 20 / 100

Name of country written on flag in ugly typeface. Notice that the M of Guam is larger than the other letters. I have given it this high a grade because it would actually make quite a nice tea towel.


Weapons

Writing!

Bad Colours

Graven Images

Too busy

Guatemala

D 40 / 100

There are so many things wrong with this flag.

Guinea

B- 65 / 100

Guinea-Bissau

B- 68 / 100

Original

Guyana

B- 65 / 100

Good Colours

Simple

Haiti

B 70 / 100

Bad Shape

Graven Images

Hideous Colours

Holy See (Vatican City State)

D 40 / 100

Plagiarism

Too many stars

Honduras

B- 68 / 100

Hungary

B 70 / 100

Iceland

B+ 75 / 100

Too busy

India

B- 65 / 100

Simple

Indonesia

B 70 / 100

Too busy

Iran

D+ 45 / 100

Plagiarism

Writing!

Good Colours

Iraq

C 55 / 100

Best features of this flag stolen from Syria.

Ireland

B 70 / 100

Israel

A 85 / 100

Italy

B 70 / 100

Good Colours

Jamaica

B 70 / 100

Simple

Japan

A 87 / 100

A classic. Simple, to the point.


Eyewatering

Jordan

B 70 / 100

Bad Colours

Corporate Logo

Too busy

Kazakstan

D+ 45 / 100

Weapons

Eyewatering

Too busy

Kenya

C 55 / 100

Graven Images

Too busy

Kiribati

D 41 / 100

Original

Kuwait

B- 65 / 100

Corporate Logo

Kyrgyzstan

C 57 / 100

Is that a tennis ball on this flag?


Good Colours

Laos

B 71 / 100

Bad Colours

Bad Shape

Latvia

B- 65 / 100

Graven Images

Lebanon

C 55 / 100

Weapons

Lesotho

C 55 / 100

Plagiarism

Too busy

Liberia

B 74 / 100

Not very original, but at least an improvement on the US flag.


Original

Simple

Libya

B 70 / 100

Did you even try?

Liechtenstein

C 56 / 100

Bad Colours

Lithuania

B- 65 / 100

Luxembourg

B 70 / 100

Original

Madagascar

B 73 / 100

Bad Colours

Malawi

B 70 / 100

Too busy

Malaysia

C- 52 / 100

Bad Colours

Original

Maldives

B- 65 / 100

That colour scheme is close to being hideous


Bad Tricolour

Mali

B 70 / 100

Too busy

Malta

B- 65 / 100

Corporate Logo

Marshall Islands

D+ 45 / 100

Looks like an airline logo.


Bad Colours

Mauritania

B 73 / 100

Bad Colours

Makes me nauseous

Mauritius

C- 50 / 100

"Hey, lots of countries have a tricolour, why don't we have a quadricolour?" Big mistake.


Graven Images

Too busy

Mexico

C- 52 / 100

Micronesia, Federated States of

B- 66 / 100

Bad Shape

Graven Images

Too busy

Moldova, Republic of

C 55 / 100

Good Shape

Simple

Monaco

B 70 / 100

Yawn... Nice shape, but nearly as boring as Libya.


Too busy

Mongolia

C+ 60 / 100

Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Too busy

Montserrat

D 40 / 100

Features a picture of a woman crucifying a harp.


Bad Colours

Eyewatering

Simple

Morocco

B 72 / 100

Apart from the colours, this is a nice design, pentagram is a bit adolescent though.


Weapons

Graven Images

Too busy

Mozambique

D- 37 / 100

Automatic weapons on a flag are especially bad. Appears to have been designed by a committee all of whom had stupid ideas for pictures of extra things to put on the flag.


Graven Images

Myanmar (Burma)

C 55 / 100

Namibia

B+ 75 / 100

Corporate Logo

Good Shape

Nauru

C+ 60 / 100

Bad Shape

Original

Nepal

C+ 60 / 100

Netherlands

B 70 / 100

Too many stars

Too busy

Netherlands Antilles

B- 65 / 100

Colonial Nonsense

New Zealand

C 55 / 100

Writing!

Bad Colours

Bad Shape

Graven Images

Nicaragua

D 40 / 100

It is probably lucky for Nicaragua that the vile choice of colours in this flag prevents me from seeing what's written on it.


Good Shape

Niger

B- 65 / 100

Bad Tricolour

Nigeria

B 70 / 100

Bad Colours

Too busy

Niue

D- 39 / 100

Worst colour scheme of any flag derived from the Union Jack.


Plagiarism

Graven Images

Norfolk Island

B- 65 / 100

Looks nice but too obviously inferior rip-off of Canada's flag.


Good Shape

North Korea

A- 80 / 100

The star is very well placed with regard to the shape of the whole flag, but the overall design is just somehow lacking in zest.


Graven Images

Too busy

Northern Mariana Islands

F 2 / 100

Appears to have been constructed from clip art. Truly awful.

Norway

B 74 / 100

Weapons

Bad Colours

Oman

C 55 / 100

Good Colours

Pakistan

A 88 / 100

Best use of the star and crescent. Unfortunately, it depicts something astronomically impossible, namely the eclipse of the moon by a star. But perhaps it's not a star but a nuclear satellite-weapon aimed at India?


Plagiarism

Palau

C+ 60 / 100

Eyewatering

Panama

B 70 / 100

Graven Images

Papua New Guinea

B- 65 / 100

Writing!

Bad Shape

Too busy

Paraguay

D 40 / 100

Name of country written on the flag. Perhaps they have the excuse that their citizens can't remember the difference between Paraguay and Uruguay either.


Bad Tricolour

Simple

Peru

B- 65 / 100

Too many stars

Philippines

C 55 / 100

Simple

Poland

B 70 / 100

Too busy

Portugal

D 40 / 100

Portugal force this uninspired effort on their territories, too.

Puerto Rico

B+ 76 / 100

Good Shape

Qatar

B+ 75 / 100

Romania

B 70 / 100

Russian Federation

B- 65 / 100

Plagiarism

Writing!

Bad Tricolour

Rwanda

D 40 / 100

Writing a big R on an overused tricolour spectacularly unoriginal.


Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Saint Helena

D 40 / 100

It could be just me, but it looks as though the ship is underwater.

Saint Kitts and Nevis

B+ 76 / 100

Corporate Logo

Saint Lucia

B- 65 / 100

Best corporate logo. Makes me want to invest money there.


Original

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

B- 65 / 100

Good effort for a country whose name sounds like a 50s rock'n'roll group.

Samoa

C+ 60 / 100

Good Colours

San Marino

B 70 / 100

Sao Tome and Principe

B- 65 / 100

Black stars too adolescent.


Weapons

Writing!

Graven Images

Saudi Arabia

C+ 60 / 100

Plagiarism

Senegal

B 70 / 100

Bad Colours

Too busy

Makes me nauseous

Seychelles

C- 50 / 100

Urrgh... ohhh... feel sick...


Good Colours

Bad Tricolour

Sierra Leone

B 70 / 100

Too many stars

Singapore

B- 65 / 100

Slovakia

B+ 79 / 100

Quite a nice flag. Definitely beats Solvenia and Czech Republic, both of which are much nicer places to visit.


Too busy

Slovenia

C 55 / 100

Too many stars

Too busy

Solomon Islands

B 70 / 100

Good Colours

Good Shape

Simple

Somalia

A 86 / 100

I think this one beats Vietname by just a little, owing to superior colour choice and a smaller star.

South Africa

A 85 / 100

Colours a little eye-jarring, but overall very nice design.


Too busy

South Korea

C+ 60 / 100

Looks good on a T-shirt, not on a flag.


Graven Images

Spain

B- 65 / 100

Spain had a civil war over whether to keep this flag. The wrong side won.


Weapons

Bad Colours

Graven Images

Too busy

Sri Lanka

D 41 / 100

They probably thought it looked 'hip' in the 70s. Thanks to Ted & Sid Traikovski for drawing my attention to the sabre held by the strange animal.

Sudan

B 70 / 100

Suriname

B 71 / 100

Weapons

Graven Images

Too busy

Swaziland

C 55 / 100

Bad Colours

Sweden

B- 69 / 100

Too garish. (Not what we expected from the Swedes!)


Good Shape

Simple

Switzerland

A 85 / 100

Good Colours

Syria

B+ 76 / 100

Simple

Taiwan

B 70 / 100

Bad Colours

Tajikistan

D 40 / 100

Bad Colours

Tanzania, United Republic of

B 70 / 100

Thailand

B- 65 / 100

The Other Congo

B 70 / 100

This is the one whose capital is not Kinshasa.


Bad Colours

Togo

B 70 / 100

Plagiarism

Tonga

B- 65 / 100

More effort needed here.


Bad Colours

Trinidad and Tobago

B- 65 / 100

Plagiarism

Tunisia

B 70 / 100

Nice design, but this star and crescent features a particularly bad astronomical impossibility.


Simple

Turkey

A 85 / 100

Eyewatering

Too many stars

Too busy

Makes me nauseous

Turkmenistan

D- 37 / 100

Flag actually includes a Persian (sorry, Turkmen) carpet. Only flag to both make eyes water and induce vomiting.


Colonial Nonsense

Graven Images

Too busy

Turks and Caicos Islands

D 40 / 100

Maps!

Bad Colours

Too many stars

Too busy

Tuvalu

D+ 49 / 100

Tuvalu was previously on 50. However, I didn't realise the horrible truth about their flag. Those stars aren't in a random arrangement at all... they're in the shape of the islands that make up the country. It's a map! On the other hand much of Tuvalu will soon be underwater owing global warming, and they'll have to remove some of those stars.


Writing!

Bad Colours

Graven Images

U.S. Virgin Islands

F 6 / 100

Appears to have been painted by number. Another unspeakably horrible flag from a US territory.


Graven Images

Too busy

Makes me nauseous

Uganda

D 40 / 100

Bad Colours

Ukraine

B- 65 / 100

United Arab Emirates

B 74 / 100

Too busy

United Kingdom

B 70 / 100

Too many stars

Too busy

United States

C+ 60 / 100

If one is good, fifty must be just right.


Graven Images

Uruguay

B- 65 / 100

I like the frowning sun.


Too many stars

Too busy

Uzbekistan

C 56 / 100

Good Colours

Graven Images

Too busy

Vanuatu

C+ 60 / 100

Good Colours

Venezuela

B 70 / 100

Simple

Viet Nam

A 85 / 100

Not quite as nice as Somalia.

Western Sahara

B 70 / 100

Yemen

B 70 / 100

Bad Shape

Yugoslavia

B- 65 / 100

Serbians will have a chance to change this flag when Montenegro secedes from Yugoslavia. I suggest they take it.


Bad Colours

Graven Images

Original

Zambia

D+ 45 / 100

Interesting layout doesn't redeem the bad colours on this one.


Bad Shape

Too busy

Makes me nauseous

Zimbabwe

D 40 / 100

Features a hawk sitting on a toilet.


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This site was originally created by Josh Parsons and is maintained here in tribute.