Flag of Serbia
Three equal horizontal bands of red, blue and white. The state flag has the lesser coat of arms, set towards the hoist by one-seventh of the flag's length; the civil flag has no arms.
What the flag means
Serbian law does not explain the colours. The tricolour is based on the Russian white, blue and red, with the order changed.
History
The flag dates from 1835. A firman of December 1835 let Serbian merchant ships fly red, blue and white, and from 1882 the Kingdom of Serbia had separate state and civil flags. In Yugoslavia the Serbian flag carried a red star, which was removed in 1992. The National Assembly reintroduced the state and civil flags in 2004, the 2006 constitution and a law of 2009 confirmed them, and the arms were redrawn in 2010.
Prince Miloš Obrenović first proposed the Russian flag itself. When the Russian consul in Istanbul objected, Miloš reportedly asked: 'Could we simply turn it upside down?'
Earlier flags of Serbia
- 1882–1918Red, blue and white tricolour with the royal arms (Kingdom of Serbia)
- 1947–1991Red, blue and white tricolour with a red star
Flags that look like this one
Russia is plain white, blue and red. Slovakia adds a shield with a white double cross; Slovenia's smaller shield shows a white mountain. Serbia reverses the order to red, blue, white and adds its coat of arms.
Flags of Serbia's neighbours
Sources
- Wikipedia: Flag of Serbia
- Flags of the World: Serbia
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Read how we research flags in our editorial policy, or report a mistake.
