Credit: Dbachmann CC BY-SA 3.0
Flag of Switzerland
Its colour palette includes red and white.
Current flag
Flag emoji 🇨🇭
Switzerland
Flag facts
Information about the flag’s design, colours and proportions.
- Proportion
- 1:1 height: width
Flag design
Centred cross.
- Layout
- Cross
- Cross type
- Centred cross
- Colours
- Red and white
Sources
- Proportion: Fedlex – Coat of Arms Protection Act
What makes Switzerland's flag unusual?
Switzerland's flag has a white equal-armed cross centred on a red field. The national flag used on land is square rather than the usual rectangle, making it one of the few square national flags. Switzerland's maritime ensign, however, is rectangular.
The Swiss cross has roots in the emblem tradition of the old Swiss Confederacy, where a white cross served to identify troops. It later became a central national symbol. The simple red square and white cross are now closely associated with Swiss identity, although their strength lies in the historical emblem rather than a detailed official colour interpretation.
Country facts
- Type
- Country
- Name
- Switzerland
- Continent
- Europe
- Capital
- Berne
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
- CH
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- CHE
- ISO 3166-1 numeric
- 756
- Top-level domain
- .ch
- Area
- 41,290 km²
- Population
- 9,092,436 (2025)
- Currency
- CHF
- Calling code
- +41
Flags with a similar layout
These flags come from the same region and share one or more design characteristics.
Historical flags: Switzerland (1470–)
Images are ordered by the years listed in the collection. A listed year may not be the flag’s official adoption year.
About historical flags
Vexilla's historical flag collection includes former flags associated with present-day countries and territories, as well as flags of states, empires, and other authorities that historically governed them.
A flag's inclusion in a country's historical collection does not necessarily mean that the country was independent at the time or that the flag was its own national flag.
The years shown are based on historical records in the dataset and do not always indicate the date of official adoption. The collection is not exhaustive, and historical usage, territorial coverage, and interpretations may vary.
