Flag of Chad
Three equal vertical bands, blue, gold and red, the blue next to the pole, as Chad’s constitution describes it. The constitution gives the colours no meaning; Larousse explains the blue as the sky and the south of the country, the yellow as the sun and the north, and the red as progress and unity.
Easily confused with
- Flag of AndorraAndorra’s flag has three vertical bands, blue by the pole, yellow and red, with the coat of arms on the yellow. The flag law describes the colours without giving them a meaning; the arms join those of the principality’s two co-princes, the Bishop of Urgell and the Counts of Foix, with those of Catalonia and Béarn, under the motto “Virtus unita fortior” (“united virtue is stronger”), Store norske leksikon says.
- Flag of RomaniaRomania’s flag has three vertical bands of blue, yellow and red, blue by the pole, as the constitution describes it. No law gives the colours a meaning; the traditional reading, Digi24 says, is blue for freedom, yellow for prosperity and justice, and red for the courage and sacrifice of those who fought for the country.
- Flag of MoldovaMoldova’s flag has three vertical bands of blue, yellow and red, blue by the pole, with the coat of arms on the yellow: an eagle holding a gold cross in its beak, an olive branch and a sceptre, with a red and blue shield on its breast bearing a gold aurochs head. The constitution gives the colours no meaning; Store norske leksikon says the olive branch stands for peace and the sceptre for sovereignty.
How to read it
Article 8 of the constitution approved by referendum on 17 December 2023 says the national emblem is the tricolour flag, blue, gold and red, in vertical bands of equal size, the blue on the side of the pole. The same article gives the motto, Unity - Work - Progress, and the anthem, “La Tchadienne”. The 2018 constitution described the flag in the same words. Neither sets proportions or shades of colour. Larousse dates the colours to 1959 and says they are arranged on the model of the French tricolour.
Also searched as: chad flag, chad flag meaning, chadian flag, chadian flag meaning, flag of chad.
Chad’s and Romania’s flags side by side
They are the same design. Romania’s constitution describes three vertical stripes, blue, yellow and red, in that order from the mast, which is Chad’s flag too. Romania’s communist government added a coat of arms to the centre in 1948; when it was removed after the revolution of 1989, the two flags became alike, the Chadian news site Tchadinfos and the Romanian broadcaster Digi24 both report. Moldova’s flag has the same three colours with its coat of arms in the middle.
Tchadinfos wrote in 2020 that specialists hold Chad’s blue to be cobalt and Romania’s indigo, and called that a technical detail: in practice, it said, for people using the flags there is no difference.
Why neither flag changed
Digi24, reporting a Wall Street Journal article in March 2017, says Romanian politicians knew in 1989 that Chad already flew the flag. Petre Roman, Romania’s first post-communist prime minister, said François Mitterrand, then President of France, suggested keeping the hole that dissidents had cut in the flags in place of the arms, so that Romania’s would differ from Chad’s; Romania’s parliament rejected the idea. Ngarlejy Yorongar, a member of Chad’s National Assembly, told the paper that “two countries cannot have the same flag”. A spokesman for the UN Secretary-General replied that it is up to member states to choose their own national flags.
In 2020 the question came up in Chad itself, in the meetings before the second national forum, Tchadinfos reported: some proposed adding a distinguishing mark, while many others held that the tricolour is part of the country’s identity and should not be changed.
Three readings of the colours
Chad’s constitution gives no meanings, and the published explanations differ. Larousse gives blue for the sky and the south, yellow for the sun and the north, and red for progress and unity. Tchadinfos gives blue for water and the sky, yellow for the sand of the Sahara, and red for the nation’s sacrifice and the blood shed by its sons. The Wall Street Journal, as Digi24 reports it, says the country’s first leaders chose red for the blood shed in the Second World War, yellow for the sand of the Sahara and blue for the waters of Lake Chad.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of the Republic of the CongoA flag divided diagonally by a yellow band, with a green triangle on the side of the pole and a red one on the other, as Congo’s constitution describes it. The constitution gives no meanings; Larousse explains the green as the forest, the yellow as the savanna and the red as the blood shed by Congolese martyrs.
- The same shape in Army ranksChief warrant officer 2 (W-2)A silver bar with two black squares is the insignia of a chief warrant officer 2 (CW2), pay grade W-2 in the US Army.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Constitution de la République du Tchad (2023), Constitution approved by referendum on 17 December 2023, Article 8 (French text), World Health Organization, Compendium of Public Health Constitutional and Legal Provisions (copy of the official text), Title page; Article 8
- Chad 2018 Constitution, Constitution of Chad of 2018, Article 8 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 8
- Drapeau du Tchad (Larousse), Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne, image entry with caption, Larousse, Caption
- DRAPEAU : L’histoire autour du tricolore tchadien, Tchadinfos, 26 October 2020, by the editors, Tchadinfos, Paragraphs 1–4
- WSJ: Ciadul acuză de 27 de ani că România i-a furat steagul, Digi24, 16 March 2017, reporting Drew Hinshaw in The Wall Street Journal (via News.ro), Digi24, Article text
- Romania 1991 (rev. 2003) Constitution, Constitution of Romania of 1991 (rev. 2003), Article 12 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 12
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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