Red and Yellow Flags

Which countries have red and yellow flags?

Spain has horizontal red, yellow and red bands, with the yellow band twice as wide as each red one and a coat of arms on the hoist side. Vietnam has a red field with a large yellow five-pointed star. Kyrgyzstan has a red field with a yellow sun and, in its center, a stylized view of a yurt roof. North Macedonia has a yellow sun with eight rays on red. Montenegro has a red field with a gold border and a double-headed eagle.

The quick way to separate them: a star means Vietnam, a sunburst with rays means North Macedonia, a round sun with curved lines means Kyrgyzstan, an eagle means Montenegro, and stripes mean Spain.

Many more flags combine red and yellow with other colors. In Europe these include Andorra, Armenia, Belgium, Germany and the Åland Islands. In Africa, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau all use both. Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia in South America, and Grenada in the Caribbean, add blue or green.

Why are red and yellow so common on flags?

Red and gold are the oldest heraldic combination in Spain, where the colors come from the arms of the kingdom of Aragon. Many Spanish colonies and later states in Latin America adopted warm tones, and Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia still show them today.

In Africa, red, yellow (or gold) and green form the Pan-African palette, which started with Ethiopia, one of the continent's few countries that stayed independent, and spread to Ghana, Benin, Guinea and others after independence. In Communist states, a red field with a yellow star or emblem was a common design, and Vietnam still uses it. Elsewhere, yellow stands for the sun, wealth or minerals, and red for courage or blood.

How can you tell red and yellow flags apart?

Use the layout. Stripes with an emblem point to Spain. A single symbol on a plain red field points to Vietnam (a star), Kyrgyzstan or North Macedonia (a sun) or Montenegro (an eagle with a border). Flags with a third color, such as Germany, Belgium, Colombia, Ghana, Bolivia or Ethiopia, are usually stripes, and that third color is the clue. Compare them in the grid above.