This is a list of sovereign states by the date on which they adopted their current national flag.
This list defines the year of flag adoption as the year since when the current flag has been used continuously to represent a nation, autonomous region or occupied state.
If the flag remained in use during such events, its original adoption date is listed.
Changes that do not alter the basic design of the flag, like the changes in ratio or color shade, restyling of emblems or inscriptions or the addition or removal of stars, are listed in the last column.
The year the current flag design first came into use is listed in the third column.