Flag of Kiribati

Kiribati’s national flag shows a golden frigatebird flying above a golden rising sun on a red field. Blue and white waves fill the lower part. The flag was adopted on July 12, 1979, when Kiribati became independent. Its height-to-length ratio is 1:2, so the rectangle is twice as long as it is high.

The frigatebird occupies the upper red area and faces the hoist. Beneath it, a golden sun rises from the waves. Three white wavy bands alternate with three blue bands across the lower area, ending with blue along the bottom edge. The sun and the wave pattern are centered across the flag.

Kiribati’s flag has four main colors: red, gold or yellow, blue, and white. The downloadable artwork on this page uses red #C81010, gold #F8D000, blue #183070, and white #FFFFFF. Fine black outlines add detail to the bird and sun. These HEX values describe this digital artwork rather than a statutory digital color standard.

The design links Kiribati with its Pacific setting and national identity. The official explanation of the shared national-emblem motifs associates the frigatebird with power, freedom, and cultural dance patterns, the sun with the tropical equatorial location, and the sea with the Pacific Ocean. A common additional interpretation connects the waves with Kiribati’s three island groups.

The bird is a frigatebird, shown in gold with its wings raised. It flies above the rising sun and faces the hoist, which is on the viewer’s left in a standard front view. The official national-emblem explanation connects the frigatebird with power and freedom and with Kiribati’s cultural dance patterns.

The golden rising sun reflects Kiribati’s tropical location around the equator. It appears below the frigatebird, emerging above the waves. Its disc and rays form a single central motif. The sun’s placement connects the red sky with the blue-and-white sea beneath it.

The sun on Kiribati’s flag has 17 visible rays. A common interpretation links them to the 16 Gilbert Islands and Banaba. This is not a count of every island in modern Kiribati, which also includes the Phoenix and Line groups. The ray pattern is a defining detail that should be preserved in a flag drawing.

The blue and white waves represent the Pacific Ocean. The lower part of the flag contains three white wavy bands alternating with three blue bands, with blue at the bottom. The three white bands are commonly associated with the Gilbert, Phoenix, and Line island groups.

The three island groups commonly linked to the flag’s waves are the Gilbert Islands, Phoenix Islands, and Line Islands. Kiribati consists of 32 atolls and the raised coral island of Banaba, making 33 islands in total. The three-group interpretation of the waves is separate from the 17-ray interpretation of the sun.

The flag’s legal description presents the upper red area as the sky, containing the rising sun and frigatebird. It forms the background for the two golden symbols. Red should not automatically be given a meaning borrowed from another country’s flag, such as a particular independence battle or sacrifice.

Kiribati’s flag has a height-to-length ratio of 1:2. Equivalently, its length is twice its height. A flag 60 centimeters high would therefore be 120 centimeters long. The same relationship applies to digital images: a 900-pixel-high flag should be 1800 pixels wide.

Start with a rectangle twice as long as it is high. Use the complete reference design for the red field, golden frigatebird and sun, and alternating blue-and-white waves. Keep the bird facing the hoist and preserve the sun’s 17 visible rays. Scale every part together so that the symbols and wave spacing remain consistent.

Any dimensions with a height-to-length ratio of 1:2 preserve Kiribati’s overall flag proportions. Examples include 30 by 60 centimeters, 60 by 120 centimeters, and 90 by 180 centimeters. Digital examples include 300 by 600 pixels and 900 by 1800 pixels, with the height listed first.

Kiribati adopted its national flag on July 12, 1979, the day it became independent from the United Kingdom. The bird, sun, and wave imagery was older, having appeared in colonial heraldry. The date of national adoption should be distinguished from both the earlier coat of arms and the National Identity Act of 1989.

Kiribati’s flag developed from earlier heraldic imagery used in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. The colony received arms in 1937 with a frigatebird, rising sun, and sea. At independence in 1979, these motifs became the national flag of Kiribati. The flag is an armorial banner: the shield’s design is extended across a rectangular flag.

The flag’s bird, sun, and wave design derives from the earlier Gilbert and Ellice Islands badge and coat of arms. Sir Arthur Grimble is associated with the earlier colonial badge design. It is more accurate to describe this design ancestry than to claim that he personally produced the final national flag adopted in 1979.

July 12 is Kiribati’s Independence Day and the anniversary of the national flag’s adoption in 1979. The flag marks the country’s sovereignty and is associated with national celebrations. Independence Day is the relevant annual anniversary; a separate recurring Flag Day should not be assumed without a specific official declaration.

Kiribati’s National Identity Act 1989 describes the national flag in its First Schedule. The description covers its proportions, colors, frigatebird, rising sun, and waves. The Act’s Second Schedule concerns the national emblem and includes explanations of its shared motifs. The Act’s year is not the flag’s adoption year.

Kiribati’s flag and coat of arms share the frigatebird, sun, and wave imagery, but they are different national symbols. The flag spreads the design across a 1:2 rectangle. The coat of arms presents the design on a shield and includes a motto scroll. The national flag has neither a shield outline nor a motto scroll.

The frigatebird faces the hoist, or pole side. In the standard front view, the hoist is on the viewer’s left, so the bird faces left. Viewed from the reverse side of a physical flag, the whole design appears mirrored and the hoist is on the viewer’s right. Keep the red sky above the waves.

For an accurate horizontal display, keep the red sky at the top, the blue lower edge at the bottom, and the frigatebird facing the hoist. Preserve the 1:2 proportions and show the complete national design. Leave captions, labels, logos, and measurement marks outside the plain flag image.

Use the SVG for scalable printing and keep its 1:2 proportions. The PNG download is 1800 pixels wide by 900 pixels high; at 300 pixels per inch it prints at 6 by 3 inches. Check a proof for the bird’s fine details, the sun rays, the wave spacing, and the separation between red, gold, blue, and white.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for the flag’s fabric, seams, and fittings. Keep it dry before storage, inspect worn edges, and replace damaged attachments. Fold or roll it without trapping moisture. These are general fabric-care suggestions; the best cleaning method depends on the material and its colorfastness.

The Kiribati flag emoji is 🇰🇮. It is formed from the regional indicator symbols K and I, using Unicode code points U+1F1F0 and U+1F1EE. Its appearance depends on the device, browser, and font. Some environments display the letter pair instead of a colored flag.

Avoid changing the 1:2 ratio, drawing the bird as a generic gull, using a sun with an arbitrary number of rays, or replacing the waves with straight stripes. Keep the 17-ray explanation separate from the country’s total of 33 islands. Do not confuse the 1937 arms, the 1979 flag adoption, and the 1989 National Identity Act.

The downloads include a plain Kiribati flag as an SVG and an 1800-by-900-pixel PNG. The picture gallery also includes diagrams of proportions, colors, symbolism, the bird and sun, history, orientation, and example sizes. The plain flag files have no watermark, caption, pole, or measurement marks.