Video: Religious Symbols Are Featured On A Third Of The World’s Flags

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The Pew Research Center took a close look at the world’s 196 national flags and found that nearly a third of them feature religious symbolism.

Of the 64 countries that fall into that category, nearly half have imagery associated with Christianity.

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A portion of the count stems from the UK’s flag, often called the ‘Union Jack, which has three crosses representing Saints Andrew, George, and Patrick.

As the Union Jack is included in the flag design of a number of Commonwealth nations, including New Zealand and Australia, those count towards the Christianity total as well.

With 21, Islam is the 2nd most commonly referenced religion on countries’ flags. In most cases the crescent moon and stars are used, but not always.

For example, Bahrain indicates the 5 pillars of Islam through the use of 5 triangles.

The next most populated category is ‘Other’ with 6, and includes nods to Shintoism and the Aztecs.
The countries flying them are Japan and Mexico, respectively.

Buddhism appears on 5, but in 3 appears alongside Hindu symbolism.

Israel is the only country with Judaic imagery on its flag.