Learning flags

How do you learn all the flags of the world?

Learn them by region, ten or so a day, and come back to the ones you miss at growing intervals. Most mistakes come from look-alike pairs such as Chad and Romania, so learn those as pairs with the one detail that differs. Quible’s Flag Blitz works this way: 170 flags, and every miss comes back later.

By Valentin Weinert, developer of QuibleLast updated: September 25, 2026

The short answer

There are 193 UN member states plus two observer states (Vatican City, Palestine): about 195 national flags.
Go region by region and keep sessions short: 10–15 minutes a day beats one long evening.
Test yourself instead of rereading. Naming the country before you see options is harder and sticks better.
Learn look-alikes as pairs and name the one detail: Chad’s blue is darker than Romania’s.
Finish each region with a mixed-world test so the flags hold up outside their neighborhood.

How many flags are there to learn?

About 195 if you mean countries: the 193 member states of the United Nations plus the two observer states, Vatican City and Palestine. Territories such as Greenland, Puerto Rico or Hong Kong have their own flags too; add them afterwards if you want the full set.

A realistic pace is ten new flags a day plus review. At that rate you have seen every country flag within three weeks, and the reviews over the following weeks decide how many stay.

What is the fastest way to memorize flags?

Two things from memory research do most of the work. Spacing: reviewing an item several times with growing gaps beats cramming it once, across hundreds of experiments (Cepeda et al., 2006). Testing: pulling the answer from memory strengthens it more than looking at it again (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006).

For flags that means: short daily sessions, one region at a time, and a quiz rather than a poster. When you miss one, see it again a few minutes later, then the next day, then after a few days. After each region, mix in flags from everywhere, because a flag you know among its neighbors can still fool you next to a look-alike from another continent.

Which flags do people mix up, and how do you tell them apart?

Most wrong answers in a flag quiz come from a small set of look-alikes. These are the pairs Quible puts next to each other on purpose, with the one detail Quib points out after each round:

Flag	Mixed up with	The detail that tells them apart
Chad	Romania	Almost the same flag. Chad’s blue is a shade darker.
Monaco	Indonesia	Same red over white. Monaco’s flag is nearly square.
Poland	Monaco, Indonesia	White over red: the same colors the other way round.
Ivory Coast	Ireland	Orange, white, green. Ireland runs the same colors the other way round.
Italy	Ireland	Green, white, red. Ireland has orange instead of red.
New Zealand	Australia	Four red stars. Australia has a fifth, smaller star and a big federal star.
Russia	Netherlands	White, blue, red. The Netherlands puts red on top.
Luxembourg	Netherlands	Same three stripes, but a lighter blue.
Romania	Moldova, Andorra	Same stripes; Moldova and Andorra add a coat of arms.
Latvia	Austria	Dark red with a narrow white stripe. Austria’s white band is much wider.
Peru	Austria	Red, white, red in vertical bands. Austria’s stripes lie flat.
Hungary	Bulgaria	Red, white, green; Bulgaria has white, green, red.
Mali	Senegal	Green, yellow, red. Senegal adds a green star.
Guinea	Mali	Red, yellow, green: Mali’s colors the other way round.
Qatar	Bahrain	Nine white points on maroon. Bahrain has five and a brighter red.
Togo	Liberia	Five stripes and a white star on red. Liberia has eleven stripes and a blue square.
Colombia	Ecuador, Venezuela	Yellow fills half. Ecuador adds a coat of arms, Venezuela stars.
Thailand	Costa Rica	Wide blue middle band. Costa Rica has the same pattern with red in the middle.
Yemen	Egypt, Iraq	Red, white, black and nothing else. Egypt and Iraq add a symbol.
Haiti	Liechtenstein	Blue over red with a coat of arms. Liechtenstein has a crown instead.

Explanations as Quib says them in Flag Blitz (Quible content, English edition). 170 flags in total.

Which app or tool fits which way of learning?

It depends on what you want to be able to do. To recognize flags quickly, a multiple-choice quiz with short sessions is the most fun and the fastest to start; that is what Quible’s Flag Blitz is. To name flags from memory without options, flashcard-style tools that make you recall the answer work better; World Flags Trainer describes itself as built on spaced repetition, and for the flashcard app Anki there is the free, open-source Ultimate Geography deck with flags, capitals and maps. To place countries on a map, Seterra is the long-standing tool for map quizzes, in the browser and as an app.

Many people combine two: a quiz for daily practice and a map or flashcard tool for the gaps. If you play in the browser rather than on an iPhone, Quible is not an option; Seterra and Sporcle both run on the web.

How does Quible help with learning flags?

Flag Blitz shows a flag and four countries, 8 seconds per flag in the default setting, and explains every flag after you answer. It holds 170 flags, all of them UN member states, and 23 member states are not in it yet (which ones). Every flag you miss comes back three rounds later in the same session and again days later from your review box. The first chapter of Quible’s learning path, Flag Basics, is built on it.

What it does not do: there is no typing mode, no map and no Android or web version. For those, see the tools above.

Games in Quible that fit

What people also ask

How long does it take to learn all the flags?

At ten new flags a day you have seen all 195 in about three weeks. Keeping them takes a few more weeks of short reviews; the look-alike pairs usually take longest.

Are there two countries with the same flag?

Chad and Romania are almost identical; Chad’s blue is slightly darker. Indonesia and Monaco use the same red over white, but Monaco’s flag is nearly square.

Which is the only national flag that is not a rectangle?

Nepal’s: two stacked pennants.

Is a flag quiz enough to learn flags?

For recognising them, yes. For naming them without options, add a recall step: say the country out loud before you look at the choices.