FlagAndMap Weblog

October 1st marks several Independence Days including that of Nigeria which commemorates independence from the United Kingdom gained in 1960. Since that time the country has grown to be the most populous country in Africa, with nearly 170 million inhabitants, and benefits from considerable oil wealth, but continues to struggle with ethnic and religious divisions. Share in the festivities with Nigerians on October 1st while wearing one of our customizable Nigeria Flag and Map T-Shirts.

Other notable national days in October are listed below.
Oct 1: Independence Day in Nigeria and Tuvalu, National Day in China and Independence Day in Cyprus
Oct 3: Unity Day in Germany and Independence Day in Iraq
Oct 4: Independence Day in Lesotho
Oct 9: Independence Day in Uganda
Oct 10: Fiji Day in Fiji and Double Ten Day in Taiwan
Oct 12: Independence Day in Equatorial Guinea and National Day in Spain
Oct 23: Republic Day in Hungary
Oct 24: Independence Day in Zambia
Oct 25: Republic Day in Kazakhstan
Oct 26: National Day in Austria
Oct 27: Independence Day in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Turkmenistan
Oct 28: Independence Day in Czechia
Oct 29: Republic Day in Turkey

September 7th is Independence Day in Brazil, commemorating their declaration of independence from Portugal in 1822. Since then Brazil has grown to become almost 20 times more populous and almost 10 times more wealthy than their former colonial rulers. Brazil has a lot to celebrate and you can be sure that they will do it well, so join the party sporting your own personalized version of one of our Brazil Flag and Map T-Shirts.

Other notable national days in September are listed below.
Sep 1: Independence Day in Uzbekistan, National Day in Libya and Constitution Day in Slovakia
Sep 2: National Day in Vietnam
Sep 6: Independence Day in Swaziland
Sep 7: Independence Day in Brazil
Sep 8: Independence Day in Macedonia, National Day in North Korea and Our Lady of Meritxell Day in Andorra
Sep 9: Independence Day in Tajikistan
Sep 12: National Day in Cape Verde
Sep 15: Independence Day in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
Sep 16: Grito de Dolores in Mexico and Independence Day in Papua New Guinea
Sep 18: National Day in Chile
Sep 19: Independence Day in Saint Kitts and Nevis
Sep 21: Independence Day in Malta and Belize
Sep 22: National Day in Mali
Sep 23: National Day in Saudi Arabia
Sep 24: Independence Day in Guinea-Bissau
Sep 30: Independence Day in Botswana

It’s been a magnificent 2 weeks of sport, efficiently organized, well supported and highly competitive. Congratulations to all those involved in the London 2012 Olympics. Regarding our modest effort to add to the fun, the final standings are now available in our 2012 Olympics GDP Adjusted Medals Table. Just as they did in 2008, Jamaica win by a comfortable margin. Grenada won just one medal, but it was gold and from such a low GDP base that’s enough to place them second. In third place, with a remarkable host nation effort, are Great Britain. Russia should probably beat Great Britain on raw medals value but they have a higher GDP and so take fourth place in our ranking. Meanwhile the two great rivals for supremacy in the standard table, China and the USA, lie 14th and 15th respectively, with China outdoing the USA by just two ranking points. In other rivalries congratulations go to New Zealand for beating Australia, Germany for beating France and North Korea for beating South Korea. Check out the complete ranking to see how your nation fared. It’s been fun and we look foward to trying to level the playing field yet again for the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

We’re approaching the finishing line of the London 2012 Olympics and the race for top spot in our 2012 Olympics GDP Adjusted Medals Ranking is going down to the wire. A single gold by the small nation of Grenada was sufficient to propel them into first place yesterday but today they have been overtaken by Jamaica with 3 golds, 3 silvers and 3 bronzes. Jamaica came top of the 2008 Olympics GDP Adjusted Ranking and it looks like they will be tough to beat this time too. Meanwhile, there are gripping contests lower down the ranking as well. Hungary moves into 3rd place with a very creditable 15 medals, of which 8 are gold. The hosts, Great Britain, hang on to 4th place, while other large nations are finally starting to move up – China 6th, Russia 7th and the USA 9th.

There’s been lots of movement in recent days in our 2012 Olympics GDP Adjusted Performance Ranking with Great Britain finally demonstrating host nation advantage, reaching second place in the rankings by the end of yesterday. North Korea however, in top spot from the first day courtesy of 3 weightlifting golds, has been hard to dislodge owing to their very low GDP. Today however, another contender emerged as Jamaica sprinted up the table to snatch second place. Kazakhstan, currently in 4th place, continue to perform well with the remarkable distinction that all of the 6 medals they have won have been gold! While little separates China and the USA as they contend to head the traditional medals table, it will be hard for the latter to surpass the former if adjustment is made for GDP (they lie 5th and 9th respectively in our adjusted ranking).

North Korea seems to have taken an unassailable lead in our 2012 Olympics GDP Adjusted Performance Ranking. Their haul of 4 golds and 1 bronze is punching well above their GDP weight, which is perhaps a consequence of their alternative economic model. Meanwhile the race for second place is much tighter with Kazakhstan, Georgia and China all with 81 ranking points. Great Britain picked up a nice cluster of medals today but it merely served to move them up from 27th to 20th. We might expect the host nation to do rather better on a level playing field but it is early days yet.

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games being held in London are finally upon us. After a unique and entertaining opening ceremony the athletes now get the chance to reap the reward of years of training by participating in and perhaps excelling in the greatest multinational sporting event of all. FlagAndMap applauds all participants and congratulates the medal winners. At the same time we will have a little fun by trying to determine which nation might be said to be performing best given a level playing field – by which we mean after adjustment is made for the differing resources they have at their disposal. This is achieved by assessing the value of medals won and adjusting that value according to national GDP. We’ll skip the details and merely note that our algorithm is designed to minimize the spread of results and maximize the number of nations that have a chance of winning.

It’s early days yet so our 2012 Olympics GDP Adjusted Performance Ranking is looking a little lean but already we can see the benefit of a more level playing field. China’s early haul of 4 golds is impressive but Italy places above them with only 2 golds by virtue of being a smaller nation with a lower overall GDP, yet they in turn are pipped by even less wealthy Kazakhstan thanks to Vinokourov’s gold in the cycling road race. We’ll be updating this table at the end of every day so check in again to see how your country is performing.

August is a popular month for independence days – summer must be a good time for uprisings. Chad celebrates its independence on August 11th, commemorating independence from France, which was gained in 1960. However, instability has characterized much of the period since independence and despite the promise of oil wealth Chadians as yet have little to celebrate. Show support for Chad on August 11th by wearing your own customized version of one of our Chad Flag and Map T-Shirts.

Other notable national days in August are listed below.
Aug 1: Independence Day in Benin and National Day in Switzerland
Aug 5: Independence Day in Burkina Faso
Aug 6: Independence Day in Bolivia
Aug 7: Independence Day in Cote d’Ivoire
Aug 9: National Day in Singapore
Aug 10: Independence Day in Ecuador
Aug 11: Independence Day in Chad
Aug 14: Independence Day in Pakistan
Aug 15: Independence Day in Congo-Brazzaville, National Day in Liechtenstein and South Korea and Independence Day in India
Aug 16: Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic
Aug 17: Independence Day in Gabon and Indonesia
Aug 19: National Day in Afghanistan
Aug 20: St. Stephen’s Day in Hungary
Aug 24: Independence Day in Ukraine
Aug 25: Independence Day in Uruguay
Aug 27: Independence Day in Moldova
Aug 29: National Uprising Day in Slovakia
Aug 30: Constitution Day in the Turks and Caicos Islands
Aug 31: Hari Merdeka in Malaysia and Independence Day in Kyrgyzstan and Trinidad and Tobago

Celebrate July 4th in style by sporting one of our US Flag and Map T-Shirts. The United States has been proudly celebrating their 1776 Declaration of Independence for over 200 years now.

Many other nations have national days in July as listed below.
Jul 1: Canada Day in Canada, National Day in the British Virgin Islands and Independence Day in Burundi and Rwanda
Jul 3: Independence Day in Belarus
Jul 4: Independence Day in the United States
Jul 5: Independence Day in Venezuela
Jul 6: Independence Day in the Comoros and Malawi
Jul 7: Independence Day in the Solomon Islands
Jul 9: Constitution Day in Palau and Independence Day in Argentina
Jul 10: Independence Day in the Bahamas
Jul 11: Naadam Holiday in Mongolia
Jul 12: Independence Day in Kiribati and Sao Tome and Principe
Jul 13: National Day in Montenegro
Jul 14: Bastille Day in France
Jul 20: Independence Day in Colombia
Jul 21: Liberation Day in Guam and National Day in Belgium
Jul 23: Revolution Day in Egypt
Jul 25: Constitution Day in Puerto Rico
Jul 26: Independence Day in Liberia
Jul 28: Independence Day in Peru
Jul 30: Independence Day in Vanuatu

Independence Day in the Philippines falls on June 12th and commemorates their declaration of independence from Spanish colonial rule in 1898. Filipino communities around the world celebrate this event and you can join them appropriately attired with one of our Philippines Flag and Map T-Shirts.

Other notable national days in June are listed below.
Jun 2: Republic Day in Italy
Jun 4: National Day in Tonga
Jun 6: National Day in Sweden
Jun 10: Portugal Day in Portugal
Jun 12: Independence Day in the Philippines and Russia Day in the Russian Federation
Jun 14: Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands
Jun 17: National Day in Iceland
Jun 18: National Day in the Seychelles
Jun 25: Statehood Day in Croatia, Independence Day in Mozambique and Statehood Day in Slovenia
Jun 26: Independence Day in Madagascar
Jun 27: Independence Day in Djibouti
Jun 30: Independence Day in Congo-Kinshasa