Red, Green and Yellow Flags

Which countries have red, green and yellow flags?

Africa. Ghana (red, gold and green horizontal stripes with a black star), Senegal (green, yellow and red vertical stripes with a green star), Mali (the same stripes with no star), Guinea (red, yellow and green), Guinea-Bissau (a red band with a black star beside yellow and green stripes), Benin, Togo, Cameroon (with a yellow star), Republic of the Congo (diagonal stripes), Mauritania and São Tomé & Príncipe (with two black stars).

Americas. Bolivia has red, yellow and green horizontal stripes, and Grenada has a red border with six gold stars, a central disc with a star, and a nutmeg on the green triangle.

Europe. Lithuania has yellow, green and red horizontal stripes.

Many pairs are easy to mix up. Mali and Senegal differ by the green star, and Guinea is Mali reversed. Bolivia and Ghana both have horizontal stripes, but Ghana runs red, gold, green with a black star, while Bolivia runs red, yellow, green with no star. Mauritania has a green field with a yellow crescent and star between two red stripes.

Why are red, green and yellow so common?

These are the Pan-African colors, taken from Ethiopia's flag. Ethiopia resisted colonization for most of its history, so its flag became a symbol of African independence. Ghana adopted red, gold and green in 1957, and later nations chose similar flags, many of them in West and Central Africa.

The usual meanings are red for the blood shed in the struggle, yellow or gold for mineral wealth, and green for the land and forests. Ghana adds a black star, the "lodestar of African freedom".

Outside Africa the colors have separate stories. Bolivia's red stands for the army's blood, yellow for mineral wealth and green for nature. Grenada's stars stand for its six parishes, with the nutmeg recalling its spice trade. Lithuania adopted its tricolor in 1918.