Countries With a Crescent Moon on Their Flag
Thirteen sovereign states carry a clear crescent moon on their national flag. The symbol is far older than its modern association with Islam: the star and crescent appeared on coins and standards of ancient Byzantium, was adopted by the Ottoman Empire, and only spread as an emblem of the wider Muslim world in the last two centuries. That history explains both where the crescents cluster and the surprising exceptions.
Crescent Flags
13
Twelve pair the crescent with at least one star; the Maldives is the only one that does not
All 13 National Flags With a Crescent
Tap any row to see the flags full size.
| Flag | Country | The Crescent |
|---|---|---|
 | Turkey | The classic white star and crescent on red, standardised from the Ottoman flag of 1844. |
 | Tunisia | Red crescent and star inside a white disc, a design dating back to 1827. |
 | Pakistan | White crescent for progress and star for knowledge on green, with a white stripe for religious minorities. |
 | Algeria | Red crescent and star centred across green and white halves. |
 | Libya | White crescent and star on the black band, restored in 2011 from the 1951 kingdom flag. |
 | Mauritania | Gold crescent and star on green, between red bands added in 2017. |
 | Azerbaijan | White crescent with an eight-pointed star on the red middle band. |
 | Turkmenistan | White crescent and five stars for the five provinces, beside the carpet-pattern stripe. |
 | Uzbekistan | White crescent for the rebirth of the republic, next to twelve stars. |
 | Malaysia | Yellow crescent and a fourteen-point star; yellow is the colour of Malay royalty. |
 | Singapore | A young nation on the rise, with five stars for its founding ideals. Explicitly not religious. |
 | Maldives | White crescent on green with a red border. The only crescent flag with no star. |
 | Comoros | White crescent and four stars for the four islands, on the green hoist triangle. |
Turkey
The Crescent
The classic white star and crescent on red, standardised from the Ottoman flag of 1844.
Tunisia
The Crescent
Red crescent and star inside a white disc, a design dating back to 1827.
Pakistan
The Crescent
White crescent for progress and star for knowledge on green, with a white stripe for religious minorities.
Algeria
The Crescent
Red crescent and star centred across green and white halves.
Libya
The Crescent
White crescent and star on the black band, restored in 2011 from the 1951 kingdom flag.
Mauritania
The Crescent
Gold crescent and star on green, between red bands added in 2017.
Azerbaijan
The Crescent
White crescent with an eight-pointed star on the red middle band.
Turkmenistan
The Crescent
White crescent and five stars for the five provinces, beside the carpet-pattern stripe.
Uzbekistan
The Crescent
White crescent for the rebirth of the republic, next to twelve stars.
Malaysia
The Crescent
Yellow crescent and a fourteen-point star; yellow is the colour of Malay royalty.
Singapore
The Crescent
A young nation on the rise, with five stars for its founding ideals. Explicitly not religious.
Maldives
The Crescent
White crescent on green with a red border. The only crescent flag with no star.
Comoros
The Crescent
White crescent and four stars for the four islands, on the green hoist triangle.
The meanings are less uniform than people assume. In Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania the crescent carries its Ottoman and Islamic heritage directly. But Singapore chose a crescent to represent a young nation on the ascent, Uzbekistan officially reads its moon as the rebirth of an independent republic, and Pakistan assigns the crescent to progress rather than faith. The same shape is doing very different work on different flags.
Flag Moons That Are Easy to Miss or Miscount
Tap any row to see the flags full size.
| Flag | Country | The Moon |
|---|---|---|
 | Nepal | A moon with rays rising from a crescent in the upper pennant of the only non-rectangular national flag. |
 | Palau | A golden full moon on light blue, often mistaken for a sun or a Japan-style disc. |
 | Laos | The white disc is usually read as a full moon over the Mekong River. No crescent. |
 | Mongolia | A small crescent hides inside the Soyombo symbol on the hoist stripe. |
Nepal
The Moon
A moon with rays rising from a crescent in the upper pennant of the only non-rectangular national flag.
Palau
The Moon
A golden full moon on light blue, often mistaken for a sun or a Japan-style disc.
Laos
The Moon
The white disc is usually read as a full moon over the Mekong River. No crescent.
Mongolia
The Moon
A small crescent hides inside the Soyombo symbol on the hoist stripe.
For quiz purposes, two traps are worth knowing. The Maldives is the answer to "which flag has a crescent but no star", a genuinely rare single-symbol flag. And two partially recognised states, Northern Cyprus and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, also fly star-and-crescent flags, which is why some published counts run higher than thirteen.
Sources and Counting Notes
The count covers sovereign UN member states with a crescent shape on the national flag. Flags where the moon appears as a full disc or inside a composite emblem, such as Palau, Laos, Nepal and Mongolia, are listed separately rather than counted as crescent flags. Partially recognised states are noted but excluded from the total.
Could you place the crescent correctly?
Knowing a flag has a crescent is one thing. Painting it in the right spot, facing the right way, is the real test.
Play Paint the Flag →Related Articles
Written by
Ziga Straus
I build and run Geography Games on my own, from the games and the artwork to these articles. Everything here is checked against published references, and each article lists its sources at the bottom so you can verify any figure yourself rather than taking my word for it.
