The flags of Asia
The continent of central symbols: a disc, a crescent, a wheel, a leaf. The backgrounds resemble each other, the emblems settle it.
Where Europe plays on bands and Africa on a shared palette, Asia bets on the central symbol. That makes its flags paradoxically easy: one emblem, one country, or nearly.
The discs
Four countries place a disc at the centre of their flag, and they make four classic confusions. Japan: red disc centred on white. Bangladesh: red disc slightly offset towards the hoist, on green. Palau — technically in Oceania — : yellow disc offset on light blue. Laos: white disc centred on a blue band framed in red.
The offset towards the hoist is not accidental: it compensates for the optical effect of a flag in the wind, so the disc looks centred.
The crescents
A crescent and star nearly always signal a country of Muslim tradition: Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan. Telling them apart means looking at the background and the details — the Turkish crescent stands alone on red, the Pakistani one comes with a white vertical band, the Malaysian one sits above fourteen stripes for the states of the federation.
The flag that is not a rectangle
Nepal is the only country in the world whose flag is not a quadrilateral: two stacked triangular pennants, carrying a moon and a sun. Its geometric construction is described formula by formula in the Nepalese constitution. It is the most recognisable flag on the planet — and a free answer in any quiz.
Worth noting too: Cyprus, one of only two flags in the world depicting a map of its own country.
All 47 flags
| Flag | Country | Capital |
|---|---|---|
 | Afghanistan | Kabul |
 | Saudi Arabia | Riyadh |
 | Armenia | Yerevan |
 | Azerbaijan | Baku |
 | Bahrain | Manama |
 | Bangladesh | Dhaka |
 | Bhutan | Thimphu |
 | Myanmar | Naypyidaw |
 | Brunei | Bandar Seri Begawan |
 | Cambodia | Phnom Penh |
 | China | Beijing |
 | North Korea | Pyongyang |
 | South Korea | Seoul |
 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi |
 | Georgia | Tbilisi |
 | India | New Delhi |
 | Indonesia | Jakarta |
 | Iraq | Baghdad |
 | Iran | Tehran |
 | Israel | Jerusalem |
 | Japan | Tokyo |
 | Jordan | Amman |
 | Kazakhstan | Astana |
 | Kyrgyzstan | Bishkek |
 | Kuwait | Kuwait City |
 | Laos | Vientiane |
 | Lebanon | Beirut |
 | Malaysia | Kuala Lumpur |
 | Maldives | Malé |
 | Mongolia | Ulan Bator |
 | Nepal | Kathmandu |
 | Oman | Muscat |
 | Uzbekistan | Tashkent |
 | Pakistan | Islamabad |
 | Palestine | Ramallah |
 | Philippines | Manila |
 | Qatar | Doha |
 | Singapore | Singapore |
 | Sri Lanka | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte |
 | Syria | Damascus |
 | Tajikistan | Dushanbe |
 | Thailand | Bangkok |
 | Timor-Leste | Dili |
 | Turkmenistan | Ashgabat |
 | Turkey | Ankara |
 | Vietnam | Hanoi |
 | Yemen | Sana'a |
Frequently asked
Which is the only non-rectangular flag in the world?
How do you tell Japan from Bangladesh?
Is Turkey in Europe or Asia?
Do you recognise these flags?
GeoG's Flags mode plays continent by continent: run Asia on its own, or all 195 flags of the world.
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