Flag of Gabon
Three equal horizontal stripes of green, yellow and blue, as Gabon’s constitution describes it. The constitution gives no meanings; Larousse explains the green as the forest that covers the country, the yellow as the sun and the blue as the sea along its western edge.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The first article of the constitution promulgated on 19 December 2024 says the national emblem is the tricolour flag, “green, yellow, blue”, in three horizontal bands of equal size. The same article gives the anthem, “La Concorde”, and the motto, “Union - Travail - Justice” (Union, Work, Justice). The 1991 constitution described the flag in the same words. Neither sets proportions or shades of colour. Larousse dates the flag to 1960.
Also searched as: flag of gabon, gabonese flag, gabonese flag meaning, gabon flag, gabon flag meaning.
Telling it from Sierra Leone’s and Rwanda’s flags
Sierra Leone’s flag is three horizontal stripes of green, white and blue from the top, its constitution says: white where Gabon’s has yellow. Rwanda’s flag has Gabon’s three colours, but the stripes are not equal: blue fills the upper half, yellow and green share the lower half, and a golden sun sits on the right of the blue.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of São Tomé and PríncipeThree horizontal stripes, green, yellow and green, the yellow one and a half times as wide as each green, with a red triangle at the pole and two black five-pointed stars on the yellow, as the constitution describes it. The constitution gives no meanings; Larousse says the flag carries the four pan-African colours, the red triangle stands for the struggle for independence and the two stars for the two islands that make up the state.
- The same shape in Asian flagsFlag of MalaysiaMalaysia’s flag, the Jalur Gemilang (“glorious stripes”), has fourteen red and white stripes and a dark blue canton with a yellow crescent and a yellow fourteen-pointed star. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s library gives the meanings: the stripes and the star’s points for the thirteen states and the federal government, blue for the unity of Malaysians, yellow for the royal colour of the Malay rulers, and the crescent for Islam, the official religion.
More african flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines or squares and rectangles.
Sources
- Loi référendaire n°002-R/2024 du 19 décembre 2024 portant Constitution de la République Gabonaise, Journal officiel de la République gabonaise, no. 47 bis, 19 December 2024, Article premier, Journal officiel de la République gabonaise (copy hosted by Gabon Media Time), Article premier
- Gabon 1991 (rev. 2011) Constitution, Constitution of Gabon of 1991 (rev. 2011), Article 2 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 2
- Drapeau du Gabon (Larousse), Encyclopédie Larousse en ligne, image entry with caption, Larousse, Caption
- Sierra Leone 1991 (reinst. 1996, rev. 2022) Constitution, Constitution of Sierra Leone of 1991 (rev. 2022), Section 3, Constitute Project, Section 3
- Rwanda 2003 (rev. 2015) Constitution, Constitution of Rwanda of 2003 (rev. 2015), Article 9 (English translation), Constitute Project, Article 9
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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