Flag of Mauritius

How to read it

The flag is set by the National Flag, Arms of Mauritius, National Anthem and Other National Symbols of Mauritius Act 2022 (Bill No. I of 2022, published by the National Assembly on 25 March 2022). Its Second Schedule fixes four horizontal stripes of equal width, red, blue, yellow and green from the top, in the proportion of 3 across to 2 high, and the meaning of each colour. The standard mast flag is 1,800 by 1,200 mm (about 71 by 47 in), each stripe 300 mm (about 12 in) high, and the colours are given as Pantone textile codes. The flag was adopted at independence on 12 March 1968; Norway’s Store norske leksikon credits the design to Gurudutt Moher (1924–2017) and gives its names as Four Bands, or Les quatre bandes.

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What the law fixes

The 2022 law gives the colours as Pantone fashion and home cotton codes: red 18-1664 TCX, blue 19-3939 TCX, yellow 14-0957 TCX and green 17-6030 TCX, with a tolerance of one millimetre where two colours overlap. It also sets a desk or hand-held flag of 150 by 100 mm and a car flag of 300 by 200 mm. The Government of Mauritius’s own page gives the older British Standard references: red 0.005, blue 7.086, yellow 0.001 and green 0.010.

The four colours

The government and the law give the same four meanings. Lex, the Danish national encyclopedia, gives a slightly different set: the red for the blood sacrificed in the struggle for independence and the green for the island itself. It also notes that the four colours are those of the coat of arms of 1906.

At sea

Norway’s Store norske leksikon says Mauritius follows the old British custom at sea: the merchant flag is red and the government’s flag blue, each with the four-stripe flag in the upper corner by the pole and the arms in the outer half.