Flag of Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire’s flag is three vertical bands of equal width: orange, white and green. Presenting it in 1959, Minister of State Jean Delafosse gave orange as the colour of the country’s rich and generous land and the blood of a young people fighting for its emancipation, white as peace, “the peace of law”, and green as hope, for Ivorians the certainty of a better future.
Easily confused with
- Flag of IrelandGreen, white and orange in equal vertical bands, green next to the pole. The Irish government says the flag stands for the inclusion of, and hoped-for unity between, the people of different traditions on the island; Thomas Francis Meagher, who flew it in 1848, said the white in the centre signified “a lasting truce between Orange and Green”.
- Flag of NigerNiger’s orange, white and green run in horizontal stripes, with an orange disc on the white.
How to read it
Article 48 of the constitution of 2016 names the national emblem as the tricolour flag of orange, white and green in vertical bands of equal size. The flag dates from law no. 59-240 of 3 December 1959, whose first article described an orange, white and green tricolour in vertical bands; the words “and of equal dimensions” were added by the constitution of 2000. Neither text gives shades or proportions. In 2020 the director of volunteering at the State Secretariat for Civic Service, Béma Coulibaly, described the flag as the symbol of the state’s sovereignty, flown at half-mast when the Republic is in mourning. It was first raised in place of the French flag at midnight on 7 August 1960, at the ceremony where the national anthem, L’Abidjanaise, was first sung.
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What flag is orange, white and green?
Côte d’Ivoire’s, in vertical bands, which its constitution names in the order orange, white and green. Ireland’s flag has the same three colours the other way round: the Irish government says the green goes next to the flagstaff, and Ireland’s flag is twice as wide as it is high.
Niger’s flag is also orange, white and green, but its stripes run across, orange at the top, with an orange disc in the middle of the white.
What the 1959 Assembly said the colours mean
When the Legislative Assembly debated the flag in 1959, its rapporteur Mamadou Coulibaly said the orange band expressed the brilliance of the nation’s flowering and called to mind the savannas of the north; the white band celebrated peace in purity and the union of hearts; the green, hope in the future, recalled the forest, the first great source of the country’s prosperity. The Assembly chose not to give the colours a geographical meaning and kept to Jean Delafosse’s reading.
Alain Lobognon, then a government minister, set this out in January 2012, when people asked whether the flag had been changed. He said none of the symbols of the Republic had changed.
Read next
- Next in African flagsFlag of the GambiaThe Gambia’s flag has red, blue and green horizontal stripes, the blue edged with two narrow white stripes. A government leaflet issued for independence in 1965 said the red stands for the sun, the blue for the Gambia River, the green for the country’s agricultural resources and the white stripes for unity and peace.
- 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
- Côte d'Ivoire 2016 Constitution, Constitution of Côte d’Ivoire (2016), Article 48, Constitute Project, Article 48
- Emblème et Armoirie de la Côte d’Ivoire / Après les interrogations de l’IA, Le ministre Alain Lobognon fait une mise au point, L’intelligent d’Abidjan, 12 January 2012, on Abidjan.net, L’intelligent d’Abidjan (Abidjan.net), Statement of the minister
- Béma Coulibaly présente les 5 symboles de la République de Côte-d’Ivoire aux citoyens, Connectionivoirienne.net, 11 August 2020, Connectionivoirienne.net, Fête nationale, 7 August 2020
- The National Flag, Department of the Taoiseach, The National Flag (publication page), Government of Ireland (Department of the Taoiseach), The National Flag
- Niger 2010 (rev. 2017) Constitution, Constitution of Niger (2010, rev. 2017), First Article, Constitute Project, First Article
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 13, 2026. How we research
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