Flags With Stars: Countries With Stars on Their Flags

Stars are the most common symbol on national flags, appearing on the flags of about a third of the world's countries, more than sixty of them. They include the United States, with 50 stars, and Brazil, with 27, as well as China, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey, Israel, Vietnam, Cuba, Chile, Ghana, Morocco and many more. Most stars on flags mean one of a few things: the states or islands that make up a country, a guiding ideal such as unity, liberty or independence, the Southern Cross constellation, or, alongside a crescent, Islam.

Flags With the Most Stars

Some well-known flags that are not national flags of UN members carry many stars too. The flag of the European Union has twelve, a number chosen to stand for completeness rather than for the number of member states. The flag of the Cook Islands, a self-governing state in free association with New Zealand, has a ring of fifteen, one for each island.

Why Stars?

Stars came to flags from heraldry, where a five-pointed star, called a mullet, was a common charge on coats of arms. Their modern popularity began with the United States. The Flag Resolution of 14 June 1777 described the thirteen stars as "a new constellation", and the idea of a country as a group of stars, each one a state, was copied across the Americas and beyond. A star also carries simple, flexible meanings, such as hope, guidance, independence or a united people, which suit a new nation. Five points became the norm partly because a five-pointed star is simple to draw, cut and sew.

The United States: A Flag That Kept Changing

The American flag is the best-known example of stars standing for states. The first official flag, adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777, had thirteen stars and thirteen stripes for the original colonies. As new states joined, stars were added, and the design changed twenty-six times. The current 50-star flag became official on 4 July 1960, the year after Hawaii became a state. The thirteen stripes have stayed the same since 1818, when Congress decided to add only stars for new states. The flag's history is told in full in our guide to the flag of the United States.

Brazil: The Sky Over Rio on a Particular Morning

Brazil's stars are unusual because they are a real map of the sky. The blue globe in the middle of the flag shows the stars over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889, the day the republic was proclaimed, as if seen from outside the celestial sphere. The Southern Cross is among them. Each of the 27 stars stands for a state or the Federal District, and the single star above the white band, Spica, represents the northern state of Pará. When new states were created, stars were added, most recently in 1992. Along the band runs the motto "Ordem e Progresso", "Order and Progress". Our guide to the flag of Brazil explains which star is which.

The Southern Cross

Several countries in the Southern Hemisphere use the Southern Cross, the small constellation that sailors used to find south. Australia's flag shows five of its stars, with a larger seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below the Union Jack, whose seven points stand for the six states and the territories. New Zealand's flag shows four red stars edged in white. In 2015 and 2016 New Zealand held two referendums on replacing its flag, and voters chose to keep it. Papua New Guinea and Samoa also use the constellation, and it appears among the stars on Brazil's flag, where it sits at the centre of the globe.

Stars for Islands and States

Island nations often count their islands in stars. The Federated States of Micronesia has four white stars, one for each state: Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap. Comoros has four stars beside its crescent for the four islands of the archipelago, including Mayotte, which is still governed by France. Cabo Verde's ten stars stand for its ten main islands. Tuvalu's name means "eight standing together", after its eight traditionally inhabited islands, but its flag carries nine stars for all nine islands. The Solomon Islands' five stars originally stood for its five districts. In Africa, Equatorial Guinea's coat of arms carries six stars, for the mainland and its five islands, and Burundi's flag has three red stars for the national motto, "Unity, Work, Progress".

Two Pacific flags use a single star with a meaningful number of points. The Marshall Islands' star has 24 points for its municipalities, four of them longer to mark the main centres. Nauru's white star has twelve points, one for each of the island's traditional tribes, and its position below a yellow line shows the island's place just south of the equator. In Europe, Kosovo's flag has six stars above a map of the country, one for each of its main ethnic communities.

One Star, Many Meanings

Many flags have a single star, usually standing for independence, unity or a guiding ideal. Cuba's lone white star on a red triangle, designed in 1849, gave the flag its nickname, La Estrella Solitaria. Chile's flag, adopted in 1817, has a white star on a blue square. Liberia's flag of 1847, closely modelled on the American one, has a single white star and eleven stripes, one for each signatory of its declaration of independence. Vietnam's has a yellow star on red, and North Korea's a red star in a white circle. Ghana's flag, adopted at independence in 1957, has a black star, a symbol of African freedom that gave Ghana's football team the nickname "the Black Stars". Morocco's flag has a green interlaced five-pointed star, adopted in 1915. Somalia's single white star originally stood for the five areas where Somalis lived.

China's flag, adopted in 1949, has one large yellow star and four smaller ones around it. The large star represents the Communist Party, and the four smaller ones the classes of the people as described by Mao Zedong at the time. The four smaller stars each point towards the centre of the large one.

Stars and Crescents

A star beside a crescent moon is one of the most widespread flag symbols in the Muslim world. Its use on flags spread from the Ottoman Empire, and it now appears on the flags of Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Malaysia, among others. The shapes vary. Azerbaijan's star has eight points. Malaysia's has fourteen, one for each of the thirteen states and one for the federal territories, matching its fourteen stripes. Singapore's flag pairs a crescent with five stars, standing for democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. These flags are compared in our guide to flags with a crescent moon.

Stars With More Than Five Points

Most flag stars have five points, but not all. Israel's flag carries the six-pointed Star of David. Jordan's flag has a white seven-pointed star in its red triangle, often said to stand for the seven verses of the opening chapter of the Quran. Australia's Commonwealth Star has seven points, and Azerbaijan's eight. The Philippines has three five-pointed stars, for the three main island groups of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, around an eight-rayed sun.

The Colours of Stars

Most flag stars are white, but the choice of colour often carries meaning of its own. Yellow or gold stars appear on the flags of China and Vietnam, and on many African flags. Red stars mark New Zealand's Southern Cross and North Korea's flag. Morocco's star is green, the colour associated with Islam, Ghana's is black for the people of Africa, and Israel's Star of David is blue.

Stars Added and Removed

Because stars often stand for parts of a country or for political ideas, they change with politics. In 2006 Venezuela added an eighth star to its flag, fulfilling a decree by Simón Bolívar in honour of the province of Guayana. In 2008 Iraq removed the three green stars that had stood for the aims of the Ba'ath Party, leaving only the words "God is great". Syria's flag has also changed. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the new authorities adopted the green, white and black flag with three red stars used by the opposition, which dates back to the country's independence era. Brazil's star count has changed three times since 1889, in 1960, 1968 and 1992, and the American flag's twenty-six times since 1777.

For a closer look at the flags whose stars form a ring, including the European Union's, see our guide to flags with stars in a circle.