About 10% of the world's flags carry Islamic symbols

Source: Pew Research website.

A third of the world’s 196 countries have national flags with religious symbols on them, according to a new Pew Research analysis. According to Pew Research, there are 64 countries in this category, with about half including Christian symbols (48%) and about a third including Islamic religious symbols (33%).

Islamic symbols are found on the flags of 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East and North Africa, the thinktank said. The national flag of Bahrain features five white triangles, symbolising the Five Pillars of Islam, Pew noted. Turkey, Brunei and Uzbekistan are some of the other countries that include an Islamic star and crescent on their national flag.

Although Singapore has a crescent and stars on its flag, they do not have religious significance, Pew added. The crescent moon “represents a young nation on the ascendant, and the five stars depict Singapore’s ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality,” according to the Singapore government.