Switzerland flies its national flag with pride

Whether it’s the European Football Championship in Germany or the Olympic Games in Paris, flags are ubiquitous at major sporting events. You see them hanging from balconies, wrapped around car wing mirrors, flying from garden flagpoles and emblazoned on clothes. But what significance do these flags hold for people in Europe in 2024? Has flag-waving effectively just become a sporting phenomenon? Or is it primarily an act of national pride?

As part of a representative study, YouGov has polled a total of 2,547 people in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy und France on the issue.

Switzerland and Austria fly their flags

Europe’s pretty united on the issue of flag-flying. A third of people choose to display their national colours. Or, to put it another way, two thirds choose not to. You’re most likely to see flags flying in Switzerland and Austria. Forty per cent of people there display their national flag. Meanwhile, in Germany and Italy (30%) and in France (27%), there’s noticeably less enthusiasm for flags.

When Italians decorate their surroundings (or themselves) in their national colours, it’s mostly for sporting events. Seventy-one per cent of people there who said they flew the flag cited football and other sports as their motivation. German sports fans follow closely behind them, with 66 per cent stating they flew the flag at athletic events. Other than that, there don’t appear to be many reasons for Germany’s population to display black, red and gold.

In Switzerland, sporting events are also the top reason for flags to make an appearance (44%). The country’s national holiday on 1 August is another popular motivation to whip out the Swiss cross (37%). Austria’s the only other country more likely to fly their flag on national holidays (45%).

Buoyed by the winds of national pride

In all of the countries surveyed, national pride was the most frequently mentioned reason to display flags. However, there were noticeable differences between nations.

While around two thirds ticked this answer in Switzerland, Austria and France, only 1 in 2 people did so in Germany.

Car-crazy Germany vs. flag-covered balconies

Where do you hang your national flag? There’s only one right answer. Correct, on the balcony! That’s probably how the flag conversation typically goes in Italy. Eighty-three per cent of people there drape flags over balcony railings or hang them from windows. Balconies are also the most popular place to fly flags in Austria (50%), Switzerland (45%) and France (38%), albeit much less so than in Italy.

Car-crazy Germany is the only outlier. Forty-three per cent of people in Germany decorate their wing mirrors, bonnets or rear-view mirrors with the black, red and gold of their national flag.

Flag enthusiasm can literally be more than skin-deep

Reportedly, around 20 per cent of the population in Switzerland has a tattoo. For young people, the figure rises to 1 in 2. However, despite the country’s high percentage of tattoo-sporting people, flags are an unpopular motif. Only 1 per cent of the Swiss population has a flag tattoo.

As for tattoo artists in other European countries, they don’t need to be experts in vexillology either. In Germany, just 4 per cent of people have a flag tattoo, in France and Austria 3% and Italy 1%.

When do you display your national flag? And more importantly, which country do you think has the prettiest flag? Let us know in the comments.