Europe

Flag of Slovakia

Slovakia is a landlocked Central European country sharing borders with Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine. It was joined with the Czech Republic in Czechoslovakia until the two nations amicably separated in 1993 in the Velvet Divorce. Bratislava, the capital, is uniquely positioned so that residents can reach three different countries — Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary — within an hour's drive, making it one of Europe's most internationally connected capitals.

CapitalBratislava
RegionEurope
Current flag since1992
Main coloursWhite, Blue, Red
Populationabout 5.4 million
Areaabout 49,000 km²
GeographyLandlocked
Flags in history3

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Slovakia means

Slovakia uses the Pan-Slavic white, blue and red. The coat of arms shows a white double cross standing on three blue hills, often linked to the Tatra, Fatra and Mátra mountain ranges and to the Christian mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The shield was added in 1992 to tell the flag apart from Russia's, and the flag has been official since September 1992.

How to recognise it

Horizontal white-blue-red with a Slovak double cross shield on the left.

Did you know?

Slovakia has the highest number of castles and chateaux per capita in the world.

Easily confused with

Slovakia's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Russia

Slovenia

Croatia

Flag history of Slovakia

Every flag that has flown over Slovakia, from today back through time.

1992–present

Slovak flag (with arms)

Adopted in September 1992 before the split from Czechoslovakia, it shifts the national arms (a double cross on three hills) toward the hoist so the flag is not confused with other Slavic tricolors.

1939–1945

Plain Pan-Slavic tricolor

The WWII First Slovak Republic flew a plain white-blue-red tricolor identical to several other Slavic flags. The same plain design was briefly readopted in 1990–1992 before arms were added.

1918–1992

Part of Czechoslovakia

Apart from the WWII puppet state, Slovakia spent most of the 20th century as the eastern half of Czechoslovakia (1918–1939 and 1945–1992), flying the Czechoslovak flag with its blue hoist triangle. Slovak frustration at being the junior partner drove the "Velvet Divorce" of 1993 — the peaceful split that gave Slovakia its own arms-bearing flag.

Related historical states

Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of Slovakia.

1867–1918

Austria-Hungary

The civil ensign split 50/50, joining the Austrian red-white-red with Hungary's colors and both shields — the Dual Monarchy never agreed on a single flag for the whole empire.

1920–1992

Czechoslovakia

Adopted in 1920 with a blue hoist wedge to tell it apart from Poland's flag. Czechia kept it after the 1993 split, despite a clause meant to bar successor states from reusing it.

1939–1945

First Slovak Republic

A clerical-nationalist client state of Nazi Germany under Jozef Tiso, the first time Slovakia existed as a separate state; it flew a plain white-blue-red tricolor.