Flag of Benin
Benin’s flag has a green band down the side next to the pole and two horizontal stripes, yellow above red, across the rest. The Beninese government takes the meanings from the national anthem: green recalls the hope of democratic renewal, red the courage of the ancestors, and yellow is a call to keep the country’s richest treasures.
Easily confused with
How to read it
Article 1 of Benin’s constitution of 11 December 1990 makes the flag the national emblem: a tricolour of green, yellow and red, with a green band next to the staff for the full height and two-fifths of the length, and two equal horizontal bands, yellow above and red below. The constitution gives no shades and no overall proportions, and says nothing about what the colours mean; the government’s explanation comes from the national anthem, L’Aube Nouvelle (“The New Dawn”). The government dates the flag to 16 November 1959. It was first used on 1 August 1960, set aside in 1975 during the Marxist period of Mathieu Kérékou, and used again from 1 August 1990.
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Benin’s, Guinea-Bissau’s and Madagascar’s flags
Three African flags are built the same way, with one vertical band at the pole and two horizontal stripes across the rest. On Benin’s the band is green and the stripes are yellow over red, and the green band takes two-fifths of the length.
Guinea-Bissau’s flag has a red vertical band with a black five-pointed star on it, and yellow over green, by its constitution. Madagascar’s has a white band at the pole and red over green, its constitution says, with three bands of equal size.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of Burkina FasoBurkina Faso’s flag is two equal horizontal stripes, red above green, with a yellow five-pointed star in the centre. A guide published by the embassy of Burkina Faso in Paris explains the red as the blood shed by the martyrs of the revolution, the green as the country’s farm wealth, and the star as the ideological guide of the Democratic and Popular Revolution.
- The same shape in Asian flagsFlag of PakistanPakistan’s flag is dark green with a white vertical band at the pole and a white crescent and five-pointed star on the green. Pakistan’s Consulate General in Jeddah gives the meanings: green for Islam and the Muslim majority, white for the religious minorities, the crescent for progress and the star for enlightenment.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Benin 1990 Constitution, Constitution of the Republic of Benin (11 December 1990), Article 1, Constitute Project, Article 1
- Le drapeau (Gouvernement de la République du Bénin), “Le drapeau”, gouv.bj, Gouvernement de la République du Bénin, Le drapeau
- Guinea-Bissau 1984 (rev. 1996) Constitution, Constitution of Guinea-Bissau (1984, rev. 1996), Article 22, Constitute Project, Article 22
- Madagascar 2010 Constitution, Constitution of Madagascar (2010), Article 4, Constitute Project, Article 4
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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