Burkina Faso flag picture
| Name | Drapeau du Burkina Faso (the national flag) |
|---|---|
| Adopted | August 4, 1984 (with the country's new name) |
| Replaced | The black-white-red of Upper Volta (December 9, 1959) |
| Proportion | 3 : 2 (fly : hoist) |
| Law | Constitution of 1991, Article 34 |
The flag of Burkina Faso is red over green with a yellow star at the seam — the pan-African colors chosen by Thomas Sankara on August 4, 1984, the first anniversary of his revolution and the day Upper Volta became the Land of Upright People.
An overview
The national flag of Burkina Faso is a bicolor of red over green in two equal bands, with a yellow five-pointed star at the center where the bands meet. The ratio is 2:3, and the colors are the pan-African red, green and gold.
It was born on an anniversary. Captain Thomas Sankara took power on August 4, 1983; on August 4, 1984, he renamed the Republic of Upper Volta “Burkina Faso” — the land of upright people — and gave it, in one day, a new flag, new arms, a new motto, and an anthem he had written himself. The flag replaced the black, white and red of the three Volta rivers, and it declared what the revolution meant: red for the revolution, green for the land’s abundance, and a star for the light that was to guide it.
Sankara was killed in 1987, and the Constitution of 1991 retired his arms and his motto. It kept his flag, in Article 34, and the flag has not changed since — through the uprising of 2014, the coups of 2022, and the country’s turn from ECOWAS to the Confederation of Sahel States, whose flag now flies beside it.
The star
The flag’s one device is a yellow five-pointed star set exactly where red meets green — the guiding light of the revolution, in the words of the men who made it, and by later reading the gold and other wealth of the soil. Its three colors are the pan-African colors of Ethiopia and of Ghana, taken up in 1984 to declare a break with the colonial past and a bond with the other African states that had chosen them.
Thomas Sankara changed everything at once on August 4, 1984, the first anniversary of his coup: the name — Burkina Faso, “the land of upright people,” welding a word of Mooré to a word of Dioula so that neither of the great peoples would own the name alone — the flag, the arms, the anthem he wrote himself, and the motto, “Fatherland or death, we will win.” The arms of 1984 carried a hoe crossed with a Kalashnikov in a cogwheel; the republic of 1991 replaced them with the stallions and the sorghum, and the motto with “Unity, Progress, Justice,” but the flag and its star it kept unchanged.
Official color specification
The Constitution names red, green and a yellow-gold star and fixes no shade; no Burkinabè instrument gives a Pantone. The values below are the matches the standard references carry — the pan-African set that Burkina Faso shares, in other arrangements, with Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Benin and Cameroon.
| Color | Hex | Pantone | RGB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red | #EF2B2D | not fixed in law | 239, 43, 45 |
| Green | #009E49 | not fixed in law | 0, 158, 73 |
| Yellow | #FCD116 | not fixed in law | 252, 209, 22 |
Symbolism and meaning
The revolutionary government explained the flag in 1984, and the republic of 1991 kept the explanation with the flag.
Together the three colors are the pan-African colors of Ethiopia and Ghana — the break with the colonial past, and the bond with the other new states of Africa.
Design and official specification
A 2:3 flag in two equal horizontal bands, red above and green below, with the star — one point up — centered on the flag so that it straddles the seam. Article 34 of the Constitution describes it in a sentence; the proportions are the convention flagmakers and the state have followed since 1984.
| Element | Specification | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Hoist (height) | 2 | 100 cm (39.4 in) on the reference flag |
| Fly (length) | 3 | 150 cm (59.1 in) |
| Ratio | 2 : 3 | The conventional proportion |
| Bands | Two equal horizontal — red above, green below | Each 50 cm (19.7 in) |
| The star | A yellow-gold five-pointed star centered on the flag, one point up, straddling the seam | Its span about a third of the height |
| The description in law | "The emblem is the flag of rectangular and horizontal form, red and green, with a yellow-gold star of five points in its center" | Constitution of June 2, 1991, Article 34 — in substance |
| Uses | National flag and ensign; the presidential standard adds the arms | — |
How the flag evolved
Three rivers, one revolutionary anniversary, and a republic that kept the flag and dropped the rest — the flag’s story in three moves.
1959
Three rivers
The self-governing Republic of Upper Volta adopted its flag on December 9, 1959, eight months before independence: three horizontal stripes of black, white and red, for the three rivers that give the country its old name — the Black Volta, the White Volta and the Red Volta, which rise in its west and join in Ghana. By coincidence the flag was that of the German Empire of 1871, a shade of red apart.
1984
August 4
Captain Thomas Sankara had taken power on August 4, 1983. On the first anniversary he renamed the country Burkina Faso and gave it a new flag — the pan-African red, green and yellow, with the star for the revolution's guiding light — a new anthem of his own writing, and arms of a hoe and a Kalashnikov in a cogwheel under the motto "La Patrie ou la Mort, nous vaincrons." Sankara was killed in the coup of October 15, 1987; the flag outlived him.
1991
The republic keeps the flag
The Constitution of June 2, 1991, restored multiparty rule and, in Article 34, kept the flag of 1984 as the emblem of the nation while retiring the revolution's arms and motto for the stallions of Upper Volta and "Unité – Progrès – Justice." Through the uprising of 2014 and the coups of 2022 the flag has not changed; since 2024 it flies beside the flag of the Confederation of Sahel States.
Who designed the flag of Burkina Faso?
No individual is named. The flag was one of the symbols the National Council of the Revolution introduced together on August 4, 1984, and it is credited to Thomas Sankara’s government as a whole — Sankara, who wrote the anthem “Ditanyè” himself and coined the country’s name, is the nearest thing the flag has to an author. The choice it embodies is his: the pan-African colors over the colors of three rivers, a revolution’s star over a colony’s geography.
The flag it replaced had no named designer either — the government of Upper Volta adopted the three-river tricolor in December 1959, in the last months before independence.
August 4 and August 5
Burkina Faso keeps no flag day. The flag’s own day is August 4 — the anniversary of the revolution of 1983 and of the day in 1984 when the flag rose with the country’s new name — and the next day, August 5, is Independence Day, for the independence of Upper Volta in 1960. The national day is December 11, the proclamation of the Republic of Upper Volta in 1958, when the flag leads the parade in a different regional capital each year.
Legal status and display rules
The flag rests on Article 34 of the Constitution of June 2, 1991, which describes it as the emblem of the nation with the arms, the anthem and the motto, and on the Law of 1997 on the arms, amended in 2024, which sets it in the shield. Burkina Faso has no separate flag code; the rules of display are the state’s protocol, tabled here.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| The instruments | Article 34 of the Constitution of 1991, which describes the emblem; the Law of 1997 on the description and meaning of the arms, amended in 2024, which sets the flag in the shield of the arms; the state's protocol |
| Where it flies | On the Presidency at Kosyam, the Assembly, the ministries, the governorates and high commissions, the town halls, the schools, the barracks and the embassies |
| Ceremony | Raised in the morning and lowered at nightfall at public institutions; hoisted to the anthem, "Ditanyè," at formal ceremonies — the Monday flag-raising in schools and offices a national habit since 2023 |
| Precedence | The national flag in the place of honor; since 2024 the flag of the Confederation of Sahel States flies beside it on state buildings |
| Respect | Its desecration is punishable under the Penal Code |
| The arms | The flag fills the shield of the coat of arms, supported by two white stallions, with lances, sorghum, an open book, and the motto "Unité – Progrès – Justice" |
| Standardization | No Pantone or construction sheet is fixed in law; the 2:3 proportion is the convention |
Half-mast and mourning
Mourning is the President’s to decree — and in a country at war with an insurgency, it is decreed often.
| Provision | The rule |
|---|---|
| When | In periods of national mourning decreed by the President — after attacks on soldiers and civilians, and on the death of former heads of state |
| How | The flag is flown at half-mast on public buildings for the days the decree names |
Things you may not know
The old flag was Germany’s, by accident. Upper Volta’s black, white and red of 1959 stood for three rivers — and happened to match, stripe for stripe, the flag of the German Empire of 1871.
The flag came with a name, an anthem, arms and a motto — all on one day. August 4, 1984: Sankara changed every symbol of the state at once, and wrote the anthem himself.
The republic kept the flag and dropped the rest. The Constitution of 1991 retired the Kalashnikov-and-hoe arms and the motto “Fatherland or death” — and kept the revolution’s flag, star and all.
Frequently asked questions
What does the flag of Burkina Faso look like?
Two equal horizontal bands — red above, green below — with a yellow five-pointed star centered on the seam between them, in a 2:3 proportion. It has flown since August 4, 1984, the day Upper Volta was renamed Burkina Faso, and Article 34 of the Constitution of 1991 describes it as the emblem of the nation.
What do the colors of the flag of Burkina Faso mean?
Red for the revolution of 1983 and the blood of those who fought for the country; green for the abundance of the land — its fields, forests and natural riches; and the yellow star for the guiding light of the revolution, and by later reading for the gold and mineral wealth beneath the soil. The three are also the pan-African colors, chosen to mark a break with the colonial past.
Who designed the flag of Burkina Faso?
No designer is named. The flag was one of the symbols Thomas Sankara's National Council of the Revolution introduced together on August 4, 1984 — with the country's new name, its arms, its motto and the anthem "Ditanyè," which Sankara wrote himself — and it is credited to the revolutionary government rather than to an individual.
When was the flag of Burkina Faso adopted?
On August 4, 1984, the first anniversary of the revolution of 1983, the same day Upper Volta became Burkina Faso. The Constitution of June 2, 1991, kept it unchanged in Article 34 while replacing the revolutionary arms and motto.
What was the flag of Upper Volta?
Three horizontal stripes of black, white and red, adopted on December 9, 1959, for the three rivers that named the country — the Black, White and Red Volta. It happened to be identical to the flag of the German Empire of 1871–1918, a slightly duller red apart, and Sankara set it aside in 1984 as a symbol of the old order.
What does "Burkina Faso" mean?
"The land of upright people" — or "of incorruptible people." Sankara built the name from two languages so that neither of the country's largest peoples would own it: Burkina, "upright" or "honest," is Mooré, the language of the Mossi; Faso, "fatherland," is Dioula. A citizen is a Burkinabè, with the suffix from the Fula.
What are the official colors of the flag of Burkina Faso?
No Burkinabè law fixes shades; the Constitution names red, green and a yellow-gold star. The values in common use are red #EF2B2D, green #009E49 and yellow #FCD116 — the pan-African set.
What does the law say about the flag?
Article 34 of the Constitution describes the flag as the emblem of the nation, alongside the arms, the anthem and the motto; the Law of 1997 on the arms, amended in 2024, sets the flag in the shield of the coat of arms. There is no separate flag code: the flag flies on the public institutions, the schools and the barracks, is raised to the anthem at ceremonies, and its desecration is punishable under the Penal Code.
Does Burkina Faso have a flag day?
No. The flag's own day is August 4 — the anniversary of the revolution of 1983 and of the renaming and the flag of 1984 — followed the next day by Independence Day, August 5, for the independence of 1960. The national day is December 11, the anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Upper Volta in 1958.
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