Flag of Myanmar

What the flag of Myanmar looks like

The flag of Myanmar has three horizontal stripes of equal height: yellow on top, green in the middle and red at the bottom. A large white five-pointed star stands in the center of the flag, with one point facing up. It overlaps the stripes, covering most of the green. The proportions are 2:3.

The bright colors and the star give the flag a look that is similar to some Pan-African designs, such as Ghana, which has a black star on a red, gold and green tricolor. The flag of Lithuania also has yellow, green and red stripes in the same order, but without a star. You can see the flag as the Myanmar flag emoji.

Myanmar flag meaning and symbolism

The government's explanation of the colors is as follows:

• Yellow stands for solidarity.
• Green stands for peace, tranquility and the lush green of the land.
• Red stands for courage and decisiveness.
• The white star stands for the union of the country and for its lasting existence. The white is said to represent purity.

These are the meanings given when the flag was introduced.

History of the Myanmar flag

The country was a British colony called Burma, which used a British ensign with a peacock badge. At independence on 4 January 1948 it adopted a red flag with a blue canton, containing one large white star and five smaller ones that stood for the main peoples of the union. In 1974, under the socialist constitution, it was changed to a red flag with a blue canton that held a wheel of 14 white stars, a rice plant and a cogwheel. The 14 stars represented the states and divisions.

The military government changed the English name of the country from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, but kept the 1974 flag. In 2008 a new constitution created the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and on 21 October 2010 the present yellow, green and red flag replaced the old one. The change was made to mark the new system of government. Many people still say Burma, and some governments continue to use that name, but the flag is the same for both.