Flag of Mauritania

Mauritania’s flag is a horizontal red, green, and red arrangement with a gold crescent and five-pointed star centered on the green area. The crescent opens upward and the star sits above its bowl. The green band is three times as tall as either red band; the bands are not equal thirds.

The normal national flag has a width-to-height ratio of 3:2. The 2017 decree expresses this by making the smaller dimension two-thirds of the larger dimension. Thus 2:3 height-to-width describes the same shape. The decree separately permits square standards and pennants for the armed and security forces.

Each red band occupies twenty percent of the flag’s total height, while the central green band occupies sixty percent. The vertical division is therefore 1:3:1, or 20:60:20. Measure these percentages against the full height, including both red bands, rather than against the green area alone.

Begin with the 3:2 rectangle and divide its height into red, green, and red bands in a 20:60:20 sequence. Place the gold star and upward-opening crescent together in the central field. Use the complete current reference artwork for their contours instead of replacing the crescent with an arbitrary moon icon.

The gold crescent opens upward, with its rounded outer side facing downward. Its two tips rise on either side of the central star. It is not a sideways crescent like those on several other national flags, and it should not be flipped upside down in a standard front-view illustration.

The flag has one gold star with five points. One point faces upward, and the star is centered above the crescent’s bowl. The star and crescent share the same gold color. There is no second star, enclosing disk, inscription, or outlined badge around the pair in the national design.

The government’s Kennach color table specifies green #00A95C, gold #FFD700, and red #D01C1F. Their RGB values are 0,169,92; 255,215,0; and 208,28,31 respectively. The same official table supplies separate CMYK recipes. These are published digital and print specifications, rather than colors guessed from a photograph or sampled from an emoji.

Historical flags and earlier technical references do not always use the same shades as the current government graphics system. The old construction annex also lists Pantone references, while Kennach publishes explicit RGB, HEX, and CMYK values. Keep each specification attached to its source and date rather than treating every listed value as interchangeable.

The government graphics guide allows grayscale reproduction when needed, specifying eighty-five percent black for the red bands, fifty percent for the green field, and ten percent for the star and crescent. This is a defined monochrome treatment. It should not be presented as an alternative national color scheme or used to redefine the flag.

Green and the crescent-and-star motif are commonly associated with Islam, while gold is often linked with the Sahara and the country’s resources. Red commemorates sacrifice for the nation. The Constitution describes the design without assigning all these meanings; institutional explanations distinguish the legal description from customary interpretations.

The red bands were introduced to honor those who sacrificed their lives in resistance and defense of the country. The government’s explanation connected the change with remembrance and national identity. The existing green field and gold crescent and star were retained, so the revision added a commemorative element to an established design.

The earlier national flag showed a gold crescent and star on a plain green field, without red bands. It was described in the 1959 Constitution and remained the national design through independence in 1960. A historical illustration should be labelled accordingly, since that plain-green version is not the present national flag.

The Constitution of March 22, 1959 already described the gold crescent and star on green. The later implementing decree was dated April 1, 1959, a date often given for the original flag’s adoption. These are separate legal steps. The 2017 decree expressly identifies and replaces that April decree.

The red-band design was constitutionally adopted in 2017, with the amendment promulgated on August 15. A descriptive law followed on October 24 and a technical decree on October 25. That decree expressly took effect on November 28, 2017 at 10 a.m. These dates identify different stages rather than a single interchangeable anniversary.

The referendum took place on August 5, 2017. The constitutional amendment followed in August, and the National Assembly approved the flag-description bill on October 12. Official reporting then documented the new flag at the November 28 independence celebrations. The referendum, parliamentary approval, legal commencement, and public raising should be kept distinct.

In May 2020, the government introduced a unified graphics charter for official documents and related media. It supplied a consistent visual reference for national symbols, including flag geometry and color values. This standardization belongs to the flag’s reproduction history; it does not mean the red bands were first adopted in 2020.

The primary documents consulted establish the flag through constitutional and governmental decisions, but they do not securely identify a single individual designer of the national design. A president who promoted a change, a designer of official typography, and an illustrator who draws a digital file perform different roles and should not be conflated.

Mauritania became independent on November 28, 1960, after the earlier green-and-gold flag had already been described in 1959. The red bands arrived decades later, in 2017. Independence, the first national design, and the current design are therefore separate milestones, even though November 28 also became the new decree’s commencement date.

November 28, Independence Day, is a major occasion for raising Mauritania’s flag. It commemorates independence in 1960 and was also the commencement date specified for the 2017 flag decree. Official reports document flag-raising ceremonies with the national anthem. Those facts do not establish a separately named annual holiday called Flag Day.

In the standard landscape view, the red bands run along the top and bottom, the crescent opens upward, and one star point faces upward. The emblem is centered horizontally. Keep the complete rectangle in view and preserve its ratio; an upside-down crescent is not corrected merely because the red bands remain symmetrical.

Any rectangle whose width is one and a half times its height preserves the normal 3:2 proportion. Examples include 90 by 60, 150 by 100, and 180 by 120 centimeters. The main PNG is 3600 by 2400 pixels. Each red band remains one-fifth of the height at every size.

The decree divides flags into thirteen categories according to use, including the presidential palace, United Nations format, ministries, other institutions, interiors, street decoration, vehicles, tables, and military formations. These categories mainly distinguish settings and formats. They do not establish thirteen different national color schemes or authorize replacing the crescent and star.

Yes. Article 3 of the 2017 decree expressly makes an exception for the standards and pennants of the armed and security forces, specifying a square shape. This exception should be identified by use. The ordinary national flag remains a 3:2 rectangle, and the decree’s military exception does not change that general rule.

The decree generally provides for one flag at a headquarters or location, with multiple flags permitted for festivities and ceremonies. It separately says decorative banners may use the national colors but must not represent the national flag. These provisions distinguish a complete national emblem from decorative strips or event banners.

Mauritania uses half-staff display during officially announced periods of mourning. For example, a government communiqué of October 17, 2023 directed flags to be lowered for three days. That is a dated instruction, not a permanent calendar rule. For a current ceremony, follow the applicable official announcement and its stated duration.

No. A downloadable illustration supplies artwork, while the 2017 decree assigns official flag production responsibilities to the Ministry of Defence and the National Army. It also gives the National Gendarmerie a role in enforcing the specified standards. Copyright status, visual accuracy, and authority to produce regulated physical flags are separate questions.

No. Mauritania’s national seal is a separate circular emblem with additional elements, including a palm tree, millet, and the country’s name in Arabic and French. The flag uses only its colored field, crescent, and star. Placing the full seal on the rectangle would produce a different graphic from the ordinary national flag.

Mauritania has red bands only at the top and bottom and a gold crescent and star. The Maldives has a red border on all four sides and a white crescent without a star. Pakistan has a white hoist stripe and a white crescent and star on a dark-green field.

Mauritania’s flag emoji is 🇲🇷. It combines regional indicator M, U+1F1F2, and regional indicator R, U+1F1F7. Do not confuse it with Mauritius, whose regional indicators are M and U. Emoji appearance depends on the platform, so a small or outdated rendering should not be treated as an authoritative national design specification.

Common mistakes include omitting the red bands, dividing the field into equal thirds, adding red side borders, using a sideways crescent, or substituting an older emblem for the current reference. Another error is collapsing every 2017 event into one date. Check the drawing, colors, proportions, and historical label together.