Flag of Malta

Malta’s flag is a vertical white-and-red bicolor with a George Cross near the upper hoist. The white and red areas have equal widths. The cross is outlined in red and belongs entirely within the white half; no coat of arms or eight-pointed cross replaces it.

The standard flag is three units wide and two units high, a width-to-height ratio of 3:2. The same shape is described as 2:3 when height is listed first. Each colored half occupies one-half of the total width and extends through the full height.

Begin with a 3:2 rectangle divided into equal vertical halves. The detailed George Cross requires a suitable reference drawing. Official technical documents disagree on a placement dimension, and the commonly used reference vector also contains interpretive dimensions. These educational downloads should therefore not be represented as certified manufacturing drawings.

The 2008 government guide specifies white, black, and red, with red identified as Pantone 186 C, RGB 207, 20, 43, and HEX #CF142B. Its stated CMYK recipe is 0, 91, 76, 6. A later procurement specification explicitly describes the George Cross background as silver-gray.

The George Cross is a silver decoration, and the 2024 national-flag procurement annex calls for a silver-gray background with black details and red edging. This package follows that description. Its particular gray is an illustration value, since the cited annex does not prescribe a gray HEX or RGB code.

The George Cross commemorates the courage of Malta’s people during the Second World War. White and red are the country’s established national colors. Article 3 describes them without assigning each a separate moral meaning, so familiar claims such as white meaning peace and red meaning sacrifice are not constitutional definitions.

King George VI awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 to recognize its people’s fortitude under devastating wartime attacks. The decoration became a lasting national symbol. Its inclusion in the flag preserves that collective memory; it is not a claim that Malta remains under British sovereignty today.

The medal has four broad arms and a central circular scene of Saint George and the dragon. Around that scene are the words FOR GALLANTRY. The royal cypher GVI appears between the arms. Malta’s flag adds a red outline around the representation of this detailed silver decoration.

The award citation is dated April 15, 1942. The public presentation took place on September 13, 1942. Both dates are correct because they describe different events. Neither should be confused with September 21, 1964, when the present flag arrangement accompanied Malta’s independence.

Malta’s flag history brings together older white-and-red national colors, a wartime award in 1942, a George Cross on a blue canton before independence, and the present red-edged cross on white from 1964. These stages should be distinguished from later changes to the country’s official coat of arms.

The earlier white-and-red flag displayed the George Cross on a blue area in the upper hoist. At independence in 1964, the blue background disappeared and a red border distinguished the cross directly against white. The historical blue-canton flag should therefore be labelled with its period rather than used as today’s national flag.

The present white-and-red flag with a red-edged George Cross dates from September 21, 1964, Malta’s independence day. The 1964 Independence Order contains this design. Malta’s later transition to a republic in 1974 is a separate constitutional milestone and does not supply a new adoption date for this flag.

A familiar tradition attributes Malta’s colors to Count Roger in 1091, sometimes through a story about a piece of his banner. The government’s educational account treats the attribution as unconfirmed. It is best presented as a national legend, not as a documented creation of the modern flag.

Percy Metcalfe designed the George Cross medal. That does not make him the designer of Malta’s entire national flag. The flag combines inherited national colors with the awarded decoration and a constitutional arrangement. The primary legal texts consulted here do not name a single individual as the flag’s designer.

No. The George Cross is a detailed gallantry medal with broad arms, a central scene, lettering, and royal cyphers. The Maltese cross has eight pointed tips. The latter appears on Malta’s merchant flag and other insignia, but it must not replace the George Cross on the national flag.

Malta’s merchant flag is a red rectangle with a white border and a white Maltese cross at its center. It is a separate maritime design, not the white-and-red national bicolor. Transport Malta also states that the merchant flag should not be used as a courtesy flag.

Government guidance assigns the national flag as the ensign of Maltese military vessels. It also describes a separate square jack: a red-edged George Cross in a white central square, surrounded by red with a white Maltese cross in each corner. An ensign and a jack serve different shipboard positions.

Malta’s presidential flag has a blue field, the national emblem in the center, and a gold Maltese cross in each corner. Government guidance dates its introduction to a proclamation of December 12, 1988. It has the national flag’s proportions and identifies the President’s official presence and premises.

No. The national flag carries the George Cross in the white half, not the complete coat of arms. The national emblem instead places a heraldic version of the flag on a shield, with a mural crown, olive and palm branches, and a ribbon bearing the republic’s name.

For a flat display, government guidance places the hoist on the audience’s left. The usual view therefore has white on the left, red on the right, and the George Cross near the upper left. Keep the flag’s complete shape and orientation instead of treating it as an interchangeable decorative color panel.

Malta has five statutory national holidays: Freedom Day on March 31, Sette Giugno on June 7, Victory Day on September 8, Independence Day on September 21, and Republic Day on December 13. The holiday law does not designate a separate national holiday called Flag Day.

Official guidance describes outdoor display from sunrise to sunset, with nighttime display on special occasions preferably illuminated. It calls for brisk raising and ceremonial lowering. During raising, lowering, or a parade, those present face the flag and stand to attention; uniformed participants render the appropriate military salute.

For half-mast display, official guidance says to raise the flag briefly to the peak, lower it slowly to the mourning position, and raise it to the peak again before lowering it for the day. Government buildings follow instructions issued by the Office of the Prime Minister.

When the national flag covers a coffin, official guidance places the George Cross at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not touch the ground and should not be lowered into the grave. This coffin arrangement is a distinct instruction from flying a flag at half-mast.

The 2008 graphic guide places Malta’s flag to the left of the EU emblem, at the same size and on the same line, with consistent color or monochrome treatment. Physical flags on public buildings are also addressed in a separate 2004 circular, which calls for separate flagpoles.

A downloadable image does not itself grant permission to incorporate Malta’s flag into a logo or other design. Chapter 253 requires written authority for incorporating the flag into a design, while Chapter 115 separately regulates the George Cross emblem and name. Copyright status and official-symbol restrictions are different questions.

Use the SVG when you need a scalable illustration and the PNG when your software requires a regular image file. The main PNG is 3600 by 2400 pixels. Preserve its 3:2 aspect ratio and leave the George Cross intact; cropping or stretching can remove essential identifying details.

Malta’s flag emoji is 🇲🇹, formed from the regional indicator letters M and T. Unicode lists the sequence as U+1F1F2 followed by U+1F1F9. Its appearance depends on the device or application, and some systems display letters instead of a flag image.

Common mistakes include omitting the George Cross, substituting an eight-pointed Maltese cross, reversing the white and red halves, or keeping the historical blue canton in a current illustration. Another error is presenting the merchant or presidential flag as the national flag. Check the design, date, and intended use together.

Hoist means the attachment edge, fly means the free edge, and canton identifies an upper corner, here the upper hoist. Fimbriation means a narrow edging, such as the red border around Malta’s George Cross. An ensign identifies a vessel’s nationality, while a jack is a separate shipboard flag.