Flags With a Cross: Every One, and What Each Cross Means

The cross is one of the oldest flag charges in the world, dating back to the crusader banners and the maritime flags of Christian Europe. On modern national flags it takes a few distinct forms.

The Nordic (Scandinavian) cross

An upright cross whose vertical bar is shifted toward the hoist (the flagpole side). It originated with Denmark's Dannebrog and spread across the region as a symbol of shared history. The five national flags: Denmark (white cross on red), Sweden (yellow on blue), Norway (a blue cross fimbriated — outlined — in white, on red), Finland (blue on white), and Iceland (a red cross fimbriated in white, on blue). The Faroe Islands and Åland use it too but are not sovereign.

Centred and other Christian crosses

• Switzerland — a bold white couped cross (all four arms equal and not reaching the edges) centred on red, on a square flag.
• Greece — a white cross on a blue canton, with nine blue-and-white stripes for the syllables of the independence motto.
• Tonga — a red couped cross in a white canton, on a red field; the constitution requires the flag never to be changed.
• Dominican Republic — a large white cross dividing the flag into four rectangles of blue and red, with the coat of arms at the centre.
• Georgia — the "Five Cross Flag": a large red St George's cross on white, with a smaller red Bolnisi cross in each quarter.
• Malta — the George Cross (a British decoration awarded to the island in 1942) in the upper hoist canton.
• Slovakia — a white double (patriarchal) cross on three blue hills, within the coat of arms.

Crosses inside the Union Jack

The Union Jack is itself three crosses layered together: the red St George's cross of England, the white diagonal St Andrew's saltire of Scotland, and the red diagonal St Patrick's saltire of Ireland. It appears in the canton of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tuvalu, so those four flags all technically contain crosses.

The Southern Cross (a constellation, not a Christian cross)

The stars of the constellation Crux appear on the flags of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and Samoa. It is a cross only in the sense of the star pattern's shape.

Saltires (diagonal crosses)

Jamaica's flag is a gold saltire dividing the field into green and black triangles — the only national flag with no red, white or blue. Burundi's flag has a white saltire with a central white disc bearing three red stars. Both count as flags with a diagonal cross.