Flag of the Federated States of Micronesia

What the flag of Micronesia looks like

The flag of the Federated States of Micronesia is one of the simplest national flags in the world. It has a plain light blue field with four white five-pointed stars in the middle. The stars are placed at the top, bottom, left and right of an imaginary circle, so they form a diamond. The flag is long and narrow, with a ratio of about 10:19.

There is no coat of arms, no stripes and no border. The pale, sky-like blue sets it apart from the darker blues used on most flags, and it is a color it shares with several neighbors in the western Pacific. If you are looking for a copy to print or use on screen, the Micronesia flag download page has image files, and the emoji version is at /micronesia/emoji/.

Micronesia flag meaning and symbolism

The light blue field represents the Pacific Ocean, which covers almost all of the territory: the country is made up of more than 600 islands spread over a huge area of sea, with only about 700 square kilometers of land.

Each of the four stars stands for one of the four states that make up the federation: Chuuk (formerly Truk), Pohnpei, Kosrae and Yap. Their white color is usually read as peace and unity. The arrangement in a circle suggests a group of equal partners rather than one dominant state. Each state also has its own flag, and the national flag is the shared symbol that joins them.

History of the Micronesia flag

The islands were governed for decades as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a United Nations trusteeship run by the United States from the late 1940s. In 1965 the Trust Territory adopted a light blue flag with six white stars in a ring, one for each district: the Marianas, Marshall Islands, Palau, Truk, Ponape (now Pohnpei) and Yap. That flag is the model for the present one.

As the districts moved toward separate political futures, the Marianas, the Marshalls and Palau each left to pursue their own status. The remaining districts drew up a constitution for the Federated States of Micronesia. Kosrae had been separated from Pohnpei as its own state, so four stars were enough. The flag was adopted in late 1978 and the constitution came into force in 1979. The federation became fully self-governing in free association with the United States in 1986, and it joined the United Nations in 1991.

The design has not been changed since adoption. Sources give slightly different dates for it, usually 30 November 1978 or the 1979 start of the constitution, because the flag was approved before the new government took office.

Similar flags in the Pacific

The light blue and white scheme comes from the shared Trust Territory past. Palau still flies a light blue flag, with a golden-yellow disc placed slightly toward the hoist, and the Marshall Islands also built its flag around a blue field. Browse more island nations on the Oceania flags page.