 Weapons |
 Graven Images |
Afghanistan
C 56 / 100This 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 / 100Given 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 / 100Machete 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 / 100Yeeech! 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 / 100Yuurgh... 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 / 100Silly 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 / 100Starmap 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 / 100Appears to involve a moustache sprouting from a flagpole.
Bad Colours |
Bulgaria
C+ 60 / 100Possibly 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 / 100Hmm... 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 / 100Do 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 / 100This 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 / 100What 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 / 100Do 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 / 100The 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 / 100Not 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 / 100Worst 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 / 100Nicest of the cross flags so popular in Scandinavia.
Colonial Nonsense |
Graven Images |
Too busy |
Fiji
D 40 / 100Features 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 / 100Looks 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 / 100Great 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 / 100Nice lack of colonial nonsense for a UK territory. Still too many graven images, though.
Eyewatering |
Original |
Greece
B 70 / 100Impressively eyewatering, with only two colours.
Eyewatering |
Greenland
C+ 60 / 100Possibly most eyewatering flag in existence.
Too many stars |
Too busy |
Grenada
D 40 / 100What is that thing on the left?
Writing! |
Graven Images |
Too busy |
Guam
F 20 / 100Name 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 / 100There 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 / 100Best 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 / 100A 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 / 100Is 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 / 100Not very original, but at least an improvement on the US flag.
Original |
Simple |
Libya
B 70 / 100Did 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 / 100That 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 / 100Looks 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 / 100Yawn... Nice shape, but nearly as boring as Libya.
Too busy |
Mongolia
C+ 60 / 100
Colonial Nonsense |
Graven Images |
Too busy |
Montserrat
D 40 / 100Features a picture of a woman crucifying a harp.
Bad Colours |
Eyewatering |
Simple |
Morocco
B 72 / 100Apart from the colours, this is a nice design, pentagram is a bit adolescent though.
Weapons |
Graven Images |
Too busy |
Mozambique
D- 37 / 100Automatic 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 / 100It 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 / 100Worst colour scheme of any flag derived from the Union Jack.
Plagiarism |
Graven Images |
Norfolk Island
B- 65 / 100Looks nice but too obviously inferior rip-off of Canada's flag.
Good Shape |
North Korea
A- 80 / 100The 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 / 100Appears 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 / 100Best 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 / 100Name 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 / 100Portugal 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 / 100Writing a big R on an overused tricolour spectacularly unoriginal.
Colonial Nonsense |
Graven Images |
Saint Helena
D 40 / 100It 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 / 100Best corporate logo. Makes me want to invest money there.
Original |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
B- 65 / 100Good 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 / 100Black 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 / 100Urrgh... ohhh... feel sick...
Good Colours |
Bad Tricolour |
Sierra Leone
B 70 / 100
Too many stars |
Singapore
B- 65 / 100
Slovakia
B+ 79 / 100Quite 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 / 100I think this one beats Vietname by just a little, owing to superior colour choice and a smaller star.
South Africa
A 85 / 100Colours a little eye-jarring, but overall very nice design.
Too busy |
South Korea
C+ 60 / 100Looks good on a T-shirt, not on a flag.
Graven Images |
Spain
B- 65 / 100Spain 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 / 100They 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 / 100Too 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 / 100This is the one whose capital is not Kinshasa.
Bad Colours |
Togo
B 70 / 100
Plagiarism |
Tonga
B- 65 / 100More effort needed here.
Bad Colours |
Trinidad and Tobago
B- 65 / 100
Plagiarism |
Tunisia
B 70 / 100Nice 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 / 100Flag 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 / 100Tuvalu 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 / 100Appears 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 / 100If one is good, fifty must be just right.
Graven Images |
Uruguay
B- 65 / 100I 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 / 100Not quite as nice as Somalia.
Western Sahara
B 70 / 100
Yemen
B 70 / 100
Bad Shape |
Yugoslavia
B- 65 / 100Serbians 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 / 100Interesting layout doesn't redeem the bad colours on this one.
Bad Shape |
Too busy |
Makes me nauseous |
Zimbabwe
D 40 / 100Features a hawk sitting on a toilet.