The flags of the world are excellent representations of their respective countries. Most follow common color palettes. Which countries have white, red, and blue flags?
Countries with white, red, and blue flags include South Korea, Great Britain, Australia, The United States, Nepal, France, Croatia, Laos, Norway, Paraguay, and many others.
Here, we’ll take a look at the countries that use these colors to represent their national pride, and what those colors mean to them.
What Country Has A Blue, White, and Red Flag?
South Korea
South Korea uses blue, white, and red as the primary colors on its national flag.
The flag, known as the Taegeukgi, also incorporates black in the form of trigrams around the round, red and blue Taegeuk in the center.
The circle represents balance in the world. Blue stands for the sky, and red for the land. The trigrams illustrate fundamental principles of movement and harmony.
North Korea
The North Korean flag features a wide red band through the center, bordered by white and blue. On the far left side of the flag, there is a white circle housing a red star.
The bright red of the flag stands for determination and revolution, with blue as a sign of peace and friendship. The flag is also a symbol of patriotism, dignity, and sovereignty.
The United Kingdom
The iconic Union Jack is the centerpiece for the United Kingdom’s flag. The red lines, bordered by white on a blue backing, represent four regions. Those regions are Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England.
Here, blue symbolizes justice, loyalty, and perseverance. White stands for peace and honesty. On the UK flag, red is a beacon of military strength and valor.
Australia and New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand have distinct flags, however they both sport Britain’s Union Jack in the far left corner. This represents their origins under English rule.
Australia features one large seven pointed star and five white stars that make up the Southern Cross constellation.
New Zealand also features the Southern Cross, though it consists of four stars in red, rather than in white. According to Maori mythology, the Southern Cross, or Māhutonga, is an aperture in the Milky Way that allows storm winds to pass through.
The United States
The flag of the United States of America features seven red horizontal stripes, six white stripes, and a blue rectangle in the upper left hoist, housing 50 white stars.
The stars represent the 50 states that make up the US. Red is representative of resilience and warfare, while white stands for purity. The blue signifies perseverance and justice.
Nepal
Nepal proudly flies the world’s only non-rectangular flag. The flag is mostly crimson red, with a border of blue. In each pennant, there is a symbol – a sun and a crescent moon. These symbols had faces until 1962.
Crimson is Nepal’s national color, and indicates bravery. Blue here is peace and harmony. The points on the flag are theorized to represent peace, for the moon, and hard work, for the sun. The moon also represents the cold of the Himalayan mountains, and the sun stands for fierce resolve.
France
France’s flag, called the drapeau français, has three wide stripes of blue, white, and red. It is simple but storied. The colors represent democracy, religion, and monarchy. In 1794, the resolution passed by the French Revolution to incorporate the flag. It is a symbol of liberty and brotherhood.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica features thin horizontal lines – two blue, two white, and one red. The blue has a lot of significance, standing in for the sky, the openness of its people, opportunities, and ideas. White is wisdom and purity, and the red is for valor.
Laos
The Lao flag, with two red stripes bordering a blue field and a white circle, represents freedom, liberation, and war. The blue on the thungsad Lāo also acts as an image of the Mekong River.
The white circle is symbolic in two ways. Artistically, it shows an image of the moon over the river. However, the disk is also an emblem of the unity of the people of Laos.
Croatia
The Zastava Hrvastke, also called the Trobojnica (Tricolor) is the national flag of Croatia. Amidst horizontal red, white, and blue stripes sits the country’s bold coat of arms.
The colors are a blend of a few different flag colors. It includes the red and white of the Kingdom of Croatia, the blue and white of the Kingdom of Slavonia, and a hint of yellow and blue from the Kingdom of Dalmatia.
Above the checked shield, the Croatian flag also features smaller shields of Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia.
Norway
The Norwegian flag takes hints from the flag of Denmark, of which Norway had a strong alliance with when the current flag was designed. As a Scandinavian country, it features a Scandinavian cross in blue, bordered in white, on a field of deep red. The cross is situated with the center pushed to the left.
There was no exact reasoning behind the colors chosen for the Norwegian flag when Fredrik Meltzer first submitted his possible design in 1821. He eventually landed on blue, white, and red, as they are symbolic of freedom.
Paraguay
Another tribanded flag, the bandera de Paraguay is decorated with red on top, white in the center and blue along the bottom. The center white field features a national coat of arms. The black text in the coat of arms reads Republica Del Paraguay.
The colors of this flag represent liberty and independence, possibly inspired by the flag of France.
Other Countries With Red, Blue, and White Flags
These are only some of the countries that feature blue, red, and white on their flags. Others include:
- Cambodia
- Russia
- Luxembourg
- Serbia
- Liberia
- Thailand
- The Netherlands
- Puerto Rico
- Chile
- Taiwan
- Samoa
- Cuba
- The Dominican Republic
- Malaysia
- Panama
- Slovakia
Conclusion
No two flags of the world are the same. Each has its own storied history, and is significant to the people who live in the countries those flags represent. From The US, to South Korea, to Costa Rica, to Norway, these three colors have many different meanings.
