Flag of Madagascar
A vertical white band along the hoist, with two equal horizontal bands of red over green filling the rest of the flag.
What the flag means
The 2010 constitution calls it the white, red and green tricolour but gives no meanings. The Office of the President explains red as national unity, green as hope, and white as freedom, security and cleanliness. When the flag was chosen in 1958, Barinia Tsara of the Constituent National Assembly's bureau described white as purity and red as sovereignty.
History
In 1958 the broadcaster Radio Tananarive asked the public for designs. A technical commission of Malagasy delegates cut the entries to five and on 15 October 1958 chose the one by Andrianome Ranaivosoa, who worked at the national geographic institute. The flag was adopted on 21 October 1958, a week after the Malagasy Republic was proclaimed, and first raised that day on Liberation Avenue. It was kept unchanged at independence from France on 26 June 1960.
Red and white were the colours of the Kingdom of Imerina, which flew white and red flags after Radama I came to the throne in 1810.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Flag of Madagascar
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.
