Black and White Flags

Which countries have black and white flags?

The list of exact matches is short. Afghanistan's current flag is white with black Arabic script across the center, which makes it the best known black and white flag. Pakistan and Mayotte, an overseas department of France in the Indian Ocean, are also on the list.

Most flags with black and white add a third color. Estonia has horizontal blue, black and white stripes. Botswana has a light blue field with a black stripe edged in white. Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Yemen use black and white in Pan-Arab designs, together with red and green. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Eswatini and Mozambique use them in African designs with red, green or yellow. South Korea has a white field with a red and blue symbol in the middle and four black trigrams, while Brunei, Guyana, Dominica and Trinidad and Tobago use black and white as thin separating stripes or accents.

When people search for a black and white flag, they often mean a single black flag used for protest, or a monochrome version of a national flag. Neither is a standard national flag.

Why are black and white so rare as a pair on flags?

Black and white give the strongest possible contrast, but they usually need a third color to carry meaning. Black often represents the people of a country or a historical period, and white stands for peace. Together they appear as stripes, almost always beside red, green or yellow.

Pan-African and Pan-Arab designs rely on the pair. In the Pan-Arab palette, black, white, green and red link back to the Arab Revolt flag of 1916. In African flags, black usually stands for the people, and thin white bands, such as those on Kenya's flag, separate bold stripes. Afghanistan's black text on white is unusual because it is a design built entirely from writing.

How can you tell similar flags apart?

Look at the main color. If the field is white with writing across the center, it is Afghanistan. If you see black beside white in horizontal or vertical stripes with a third color, check the region: blue points to Estonia, red and green point to the Arab world, and green, yellow and red point to Africa. Use the grid above to see each design in full.