Flag of the Nordic Council
The Flag of the Nordic Council is blue, with a stylised circular motif of a white swan. The swan symbol was chosen to represent the Nordic Council, and the Nordic Council of Ministers, in 1984. It is also designed to symbolise wider Nordic cooperation. The current version was designed by Kontrapunkt in 2016.
Before 2016, the flag was white, with a stylised circular motif of a white swan upon a blue disk. The Swan had enough wing feathers standing for the eight members and territories of the Council: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Åland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The flag was designed by Kyösti Varis, an artist from Finland.
The full members of the Nordic council all use a Nordic Cross Flag. The Nordic Cross was also used in the flag of the Kalmar Union. The Kalmar Union was the only time when all Nordic countries were under a single state–hence it has traditionally been a sign of unity before the Nordic Council adopted the swan flag.
