Finland

About the flag

This is Finland’s flag, the Siniristilippu (“Blue Cross Flag”), featuring the Nordic cross shared by other Scandinavian countries. Its blue symbolizes Finland’s thousands of lakes and the sky, while white represents snow. It was adopted in 1918, soon after Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917. To tell it apart from the options: Norway’s Nordic cross sits on a red field, Serbia uses a horizontal tricolor with a coat of arms, and Malta has a white-red split with the George Cross. Memory tip: think “land of a thousand lakes”—blue on snowy white = Finland.