Flag of Finland
Europe
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Helsinki
- Flag adopted
- 1918
- Population
- 5,650,325
- Area
- 338,455 km²
- Languages
- Finnish, Swedish
- Currency
- euro (€) — EUR
- Demonym
- Finnish
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Subregion
- Northern Europe
- Driving side
- Right
- Timezones
- UTC+02:00
- Independence
- 1917
Religions
- Lutheran 66.6%
- None 30.6%
- Other 1.7%
- Greek Orthodox 1.1%
About This Flag
The flag of Finland, called Siniristilippu ('Blue Cross Flag'), features a white field with a blue Nordic cross (Scandinavian cross offset toward the hoist). The white represents the snow that covers Finland for much of the year, while the blue represents the country's thousands of lakes and the sky.
The cross design follows the Scandinavian tradition established by Denmark's Dannebrog. The flag was officially adopted on May 29, 1918, shortly after Finland declared independence from Russia on December 6, 1917.
The designer, artist Eero Snellman and poet Bruno Tuukkanen, chose the colors to evoke the Finnish winter landscape of white snow and blue sky.
What the colors & design mean
White represents the snow and winter landscape of Finland. Blue symbolizes the thousands of lakes (over 188,000) and the sky. The Nordic cross represents Finland's cultural connection to the other Scandinavian nations.
Pattern: Cross Design
Bordering countries (3)
Fun Facts
- Finland has approximately 188,000 lakes, earning it the nickname 'Land of a Thousand Lakes' — the blue of the flag is said to specifically evoke this lake-dotted landscape.
- Before the current design, various proposals included a red-and-yellow flag derived from the Finnish coat of arms — the blue-cross-on-white was chosen to emphasize Finland's Nordic identity.
- Finland declared independence from Russia on December 6, 1917, after centuries of Swedish and then Russian rule — the flag was adopted just months later as a key symbol of the new nation.
- The official shade of blue was standardized in the 1978 Flag Act and is a specific medium blue, sometimes called 'sea blue,' that distinguishes it from Sweden's brighter blue.
Similar looking flags
These flags share similar colors and patterns:
More Europe Flags
🇦🇱 Albania · 🇦🇩 Andorra · 🇦🇹 Austria · 🇧🇾 Belarus · 🇧🇪 Belgium · 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina · 🇧🇬 Bulgaria · 🇭🇷 Croatia
Explore by Category
Test Your Knowledge!
Think you can identify the flag of Finland?
Play Flag Quiz