Bangladesh flag picture
| Name | Bangladesher jatiyo pataka (বাংলাদেশের জাতীয় পতাকা — the Lal-Sobuj, "red-green") |
|---|---|
| Adopted | January 17, 1972 (the map removed) March 2, 1971 (first hoisted, with the map) |
| Designer | Quamrul Hassan (1972 form); the 1970 flag by Dhaka University students |
| Proportion | 10 : 6 (length : width) |
| Disc | Radius 1/5 of the length; center 9/20 from the hoist |
The Bangladeshi flag is a red disc on bottle green, set a little toward the hoist so it looks centered in flight — the sun rising over Bengal and the blood of the martyrs, fixed by the Flag Rules of 1972 to the twentieth and the part per thousand.
An overview
The national flag of Bangladesh is a red disc on a bottle-green field in a 10:6 proportion, the disc set a little toward the hoist so that it looks centered when the flag flies. Bangladeshis call it the Lal-Sobuj — the red-green.
It was made by students before there was a state to fly it. On June 6, 1970, leaders of the independence movement sewed the first flag in a Dhaka University dormitory, a golden map of the country painted on the disc; it was hoisted on March 2, 1971, three weeks before the war began, and carried through the nine months to victory. On January 13, 1972, the artist Quamrul Hassan removed the map and shifted the disc, and on January 17 the flag became official under the Bangladesh National Anthem, Flag and Emblem Order.
The Flag Rules of 1972 — revised through 2023 — fix it with rare precision: the disc to the twentieth of the length, the colors to the part per thousand of dye, the sizes from a 10 × 6 ft flag on a building to a 10 × 6 in flag on a conference table.
The red disc
The disc is drawn to statute: a radius of one-fifth of the flag’s length, its center at nine-twentieths of the length from the hoist, on the horizontal midline. The offset is optical — a disc set at the true center looks pushed toward the fly when the flag streams in the wind, so the Rules move it toward the pole, where it appears centered in flight.
For its first two years the disc carried a golden map of Bangladesh, traced from an atlas by Dhaka University students in June 1970 and flown through the war of 1971. The map came off on January 13, 1972 — it was almost impossible to render correctly on both faces of a flag, and the country no longer needed to draw its own outline to be recognized.
Official color specification
Bangladesh specifies its colors as dyes. Rule 3 of the Flag Rules names Procion Brilliant Green H-2RS at 50 parts per 1,000 for the field and Procion Brilliant Orange H-2RS at 60 parts per 1,000 for the disc — a textile recipe from 1972, not a swatch. No Pantone is official; the values below are the modern matches the standard references carry.
| Color | Hex | Pantone | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bottle green | #006A4E | 3425 C | 0, 106, 78 |
| Red | #F42A41 | 1788 C | 244, 42, 65 |
Symbolism and meaning
The Flag Rules fix the flag’s form, not its meaning; the readings below are the accepted ones, repeated across Bangladeshi public life.
The disc once carried a fourth meaning outright: a golden map of the country, flown through 1971 and removed in 1972.
Design and official specification
The Flag Rules of 1972 measure everything by the flag’s length: a 10:6 rectangle in bottle green, a red disc of radius one-fifth of the length, its center on the horizontal midline at nine-twentieths of the length from the hoist. The Rules then fix the sizes — three for buildings, two for cars, one for the conference table — all at the same proportion.
| Element | Specification | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Proportion | 10 : 6 (5 : 3), length to width | Flag Rules, 1972 |
| Disc radius | One-fifth of the length | 61 cm (24 in) on the 10 × 6 ft flag |
| Disc center | Nine-twentieths of the length from the hoist, on the horizontal midline | Offset so the disc looks centered when the flag flies |
| Field dye | Procion Brilliant Green H-2RS, 50 parts per 1,000 | Rule 3(I)(a) |
| Disc dye | Procion Brilliant Orange H-2RS, 60 parts per 1,000 | Rule 3(I)(b) |
| Building flags | 305 × 183 cm (10 × 6 ft), 152 × 91 cm (5 × 3 ft), 76 × 46 cm (2½ × 1½ ft) | By the size of the building |
| Car flags | 38 × 23 cm (15 × 9 in) for large cars; 25 × 15 cm (10 × 6 in) for small and medium cars | The table flag for conferences 25 × 15 cm |
| Ensigns | The national flag in the canton of a red field (civil) and a white field (naval); the air force ensign at 1:2 | — |
How the flag evolved
A dormitory, a war, and a decree: the flag’s short history runs from a student room in 1970 to the Flag Rules of 1972 in three moves.
1970
Room 108, Iqbal Hall
On June 6, 1970, student leaders of the Swadhin Bangla Nucleus — among them Kazi Aref Ahmed, A.S.M. Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj and Hasanul Haq Inu — made the first flag in room 108 of Iqbal Hall at Dhaka University, from cloth donated by a New Market tailor. A map of East Pakistan traced from an atlas was painted in gold on the red disc; the painter Shib Narayan Das is credited with the design.
1971
The flag of the war
The flag was first hoisted publicly on March 2, 1971, at Dhaka University by the student leader A.S.M. Abdur Rab — a day now observed as Flag Hoisting Day — and raised again by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his residence on March 23. Through the nine months of the Liberation War it was the banner of the Mukti Bahini and of the government in exile at Mujibnagar, and of the victory of December 16.
1972
The map comes off
On January 13, 1972, the artist Quamrul Hassan's modification removed the map and moved the disc toward the hoist; the flag was adopted officially on January 17, 1972, under the Bangladesh National Anthem, Flag and Emblem Order. The Flag Rules of the same year fixed its geometry and dyes — and, revised through 2023, still govern how it flies.
Who designed the Bangladeshi flag?
Two hands, two years apart. The flag of 1970 belongs to a room full of students — Kazi Aref Ahmed, A.S.M. Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Hasanul Haq Inu and their comrades in room 108 of Iqbal Hall — with the painter Shib Narayan Das credited for the design and the golden map he set on the red sun. The flag of 1972 belongs to Quamrul Hassan, one of the country’s great artists, whose modification removed the map, moved the disc toward the hoist, and gave the nation the flag it flies today.
Hassan also designed the national emblem — the water lily on rippling water, ringed by rice, with jute leaves and four stars above.
March 2, March 26 and December 16
Bangladesh has no flag day in law, but it keeps one in practice: March 2, the day in 1971 when A.S.M. Abdur Rab hoisted the first flag at Dhaka University, is observed as Flag Hoisting Day. The flag’s great days are Independence Day, March 26, and Victory Day, December 16, when the Rules require it on every building in the country.
Legal status and display rules
The flag rests on the Bangladesh National Anthem, Flag and Emblem Order of 1972 and on the People’s Republic of Bangladesh Flag Rules made under it the same year — a full code of display, revised through August 2023. Its provisions are tabled here.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| The instrument | The People's Republic of Bangladesh Flag Rules, 1972, under the Bangladesh National Anthem, Flag and Emblem Order of 1972 (P.O. 130) — revised through 2023 |
| Where it flies daily | On working days on the important buildings of the state — the President's House, Parliament, the ministries, the Supreme Court, the missions abroad — and on the residences and cars of the officers the Rules list |
| Public holidays | On Independence Day (March 26), Victory Day (December 16) and the other days the government notifies, on all government and private buildings |
| Hoisting | Hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously; when hoisted formally, with the singing of the national anthem |
| Respect | During hoisting or lowering, and as the flag passes in a parade, all present face it; those in uniform salute |
| Precedence | No other flag or emblem is placed above or to the right of the national flag, except at the missions abroad as the Rules provide |
| Sizes | Fixed by the Rules for buildings, cars and tables — 10 × 6 ft down to 10 × 6 in |
Half-mast and mourning
Half-masting is the government’s to grant, not the flag-bearer’s to decide.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| Rule XXVI | The flag is not flown at half-mast without the permission of the government |
| Abroad | The head of a Bangladesh mission may fly it at half-mast on the days the host government half-masts its own flags |
| The days | The government declares the days of national mourning on which the flag is lowered — Language Martyrs' Day, February 21, among them |
Things you may not know
The colors are a dye recipe. Where other flag laws name a Pantone, the Flag Rules name Procion reactive dyes by the part per thousand — a specification written for the mills of 1972 and never replaced.
The flag was made from a tailor’s cloth. The first flag of June 1970 was sewn from fabric donated by Bazlur Rahman Lasker of Apollo Tailors in Dhaka’s New Market, in a student dormitory, with a map traced from an atlas onto tracing paper.
The sun is deliberately off-center. Nine-twentieths of the length from the hoist, not a half — so that the disc, which a flying flag drags toward the fly, looks centered in the wind. Japan, with a similar disc, centers it exactly.
Frequently asked questions
What does the flag of Bangladesh look like?
A red disc on a bottle-green field, set slightly toward the hoist. The proportion is 10:6 — five to three — and the disc's radius is one-fifth of the flag's length, its center nine-twentieths of the length from the hoist, so that it appears centered when the flag flies. Bangladeshis call it the Lal-Sobuj, the red-green.
What do the colors of the Bangladeshi flag mean?
The green stands for the lush land of Bengal — and, in some readings, for the youth of the nation. The red disc is the sun rising over Bengal, and the blood of those who died in the Liberation War of 1971. Neither meaning is written into the Flag Rules; both are the accepted ones.
Why is the red disc off-center?
For the eye. A disc placed at the true center looks pushed toward the fly when the flag streams in the wind, so the Flag Rules of 1972 set its center at nine-twentieths of the length from the hoist — where it looks centered in flight. Japan's flag, by contrast, centers its disc exactly.
When was the Bangladeshi flag adopted?
Officially on January 17, 1972, under the Bangladesh National Anthem, Flag and Emblem Order. The flag it replaced — the same disc on green, with a golden map of the country inside it — was made by Dhaka University students on June 6, 1970, first hoisted on March 2, 1971, and flown through the war.
Why was the map removed from the flag?
Practicality above all: a map is almost impossible to render correctly on both sides of a flag — it reads reversed from the back — and it was hard to reproduce at all sizes. The artist Quamrul Hassan's modification of January 13, 1972, removed it and moved the disc toward the hoist.
Who designed the Bangladeshi flag?
Two hands, two years apart. The 1970 flag with the map was made by a group of student leaders at Dhaka University, with the painter Shib Narayan Das credited for the design; the 1972 flag without the map is the work of the artist Quamrul Hassan, whose modification became the national flag.
What are the official colors of the Bangladeshi flag?
The Flag Rules of 1972 specify dyes, not Pantone: Procion Brilliant Green H-2RS at 50 parts per 1,000 for the field and Procion Brilliant Orange H-2RS at 60 parts per 1,000 for the disc. The usual modern matches are #006A4E (Pantone 3425 C) for the green and #F42A41 (Pantone 1788 C) for the red.
What are the rules for flying the Bangladeshi flag?
The Flag Rules of 1972 fix them: the flag flies daily on the important buildings of the state and on all buildings on Independence Day, Victory Day and the days the government notifies; it is hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously, to the national anthem when formal; all present face it and uniformed personnel salute; it is not flown at half-mast without the government's permission. Sizes are set from 10 × 6 ft for buildings down to 10 × 6 in for tables.
Does Bangladesh have a flag day?
Not an official one. March 2 — the day the first flag was hoisted at Dhaka University in 1971 — is observed as Flag Hoisting Day (Jatiya Pataka Uttolon Dibosh). The flag's great days are Independence Day, March 26, and Victory Day, December 16, and it flies at half-mast on Language Martyrs' Day, February 21.
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