The flag of Iceland
Fire, ice and mountains — one of the few flags whose colour symbolism is genuinely about the landscape rather than heraldry, and it is stated in Icelandic law. The design was approved for use in 1915 and became the flag of the independent republic in 1944. It is Norway's flag with red and blue exchanged, which is not accidental: both derive from Denmark's Dannebrog, and Iceland was Danish territory when the design was chosen. Icelandic flag law is unusually strict about the flag touching the ground and about the hours it may be flown, and it sets an odd 18:25 ratio that almost no other country uses.
Flags it gets confused with
Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.
| Flag | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Norway | Colours swapped — Norway is a red field with a blue cross; Iceland is a blue field with a red cross. |
What the colours mean
- Blue
#02529CThe mountains and the sea - White
#FFFFFFIce and snow - Red
#DC1E35The island's volcanic fire
Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.
- Ratio
- 18:25
- Current design adopted
- 1944
- Colours
- blue, white, red
Common questions
- What does the flag of Iceland look like?
- A blue field with a red Nordic cross outlined in white, offset toward the hoist.
- What do the colours of the Iceland flag mean?
- Blue: the mountains and the sea. White: ice and snow. Red: the island's volcanic fire.
- How do you tell the Iceland flag from the Norway one?
- Colours swapped — Norway is a red field with a blue cross; Iceland is a blue field with a red cross.
- When was the Iceland flag adopted?
- The current design dates from 1944, and its official ratio is 18:25.
Related pages
- Iceland Capital, area, population and currency
- The flag of Norway Routinely mistaken for this one
- Every flag with blue in it
- The flag of United States Ratio 10:19
- The flag of India Ratio 2:3
- The flag of United Kingdom Ratio 1:2
- The flag of France Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Russia Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Brazil Ratio 7:10
- The flag of Australia Ratio 1:2
- The flag of South Korea Ratio 2:3
Sources
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place