Flag of Vanuatu

Country

Flag of Vanuatu uses horizontal bicolour with a black hoist triangle and a yellow pall. Ratio 3:5, current adoption February 18, 1980 and design credited to Kalontas Mahlon.

Hoist Ratio 3:5 Fly

Flag Reference

Flag	Flag of Vanuatu
Entity Type	Country
Official Name	Republic of Vanuatu
Identifier	VU / VUT
Region	Melanesia

Flag Specifications

Current Adoption	February 18, 1980
First Documented Use	1980
Proportion	3:5
Shape	Rectangle
Colours	Red, Green, Black, Yellow
Designer	Kalontas Mahlon
Construction	Horizontal bicolour with a black hoist triangle and a yellow pall

Documented Colour Values

Colour	HEX	RGB	CMYK
Red	#D21034	210, 16, 52	0, 92, 75, 18
Green	#009543	0, 149, 67	100, 0, 55, 42
Black	#000000	0, 0, 0	0, 0, 0, 100
Yellow	#FDCE12	253, 206, 18	0, 19, 93, 1

Design and Symbolism

Red	the blood of boars and of men, and the unity of the people.
Green	the richness of the islands.
Black	the ni-Vanuatu people.
Yellow	the sunlight of Christianity.
Boar’s tusk	Prosperity, worn as a pendant across the islands.
Namele leaves	Peace — the 39 leaflets stand for the 39 members of parliament.
Y-shaped pall	The layout of the islands in the Pacific.

Proportions

Ratio	3:5
Hoist	3 units
Fly	5 units

About the Flag of Vanuatu

Horizontal bicolour with a black hoist triangle and a yellow pall The recorded proportion is 3:5. Within this library it is grouped with y-shaped pall designs.

Colours and construction

The reference palette stored for Vanuatu is Red (#D21034), Green (#009543), Black (#000000) and Yellow (#FDCE12). The colour table above is intended for digital reference; where an issuing authority publishes a different colour standard, that specification takes precedence.

Symbols and recorded meaning

Boar’s tusk: Prosperity, worn as a pendant across the islands; Namele leaves: Peace — the 39 leaflets stand for the 39 members of parliament; Y-shaped pall: The layout of the islands in the Pacific.

History and adoption record

The design record traces first use to 1980. The adoption field for the present record is February 18, 1980. The designer is recorded as Kalontas Mahlon.

Additional flag context

The boar's tusk in the black triangle is a traditional symbol of prosperity, enclosing two crossed namele fern leaves.

The thirty-nine leaflets on the fern fronds correspond to the members of the country's legislature.

The horizontal Y construction is shared with only a handful of flags, most notably South Africa's.

How to identify this flag

For quick identification, look for Horizontal bicolour with a black hoist triangle and a yellow pall, a 3:5 proportion and the visible boar’s tusk. Use the comparison and design-family links on this page when another flag has a similar palette or layout.

Verification sources

Flags of the World — Vanuatu — Specialist vexillological reference

Other y-shaped pall flags

See all

South Africa

Facts about the Flag of Vanuatu

Vanuatu is recorded as horizontal bicolour with a black hoist triangle and a yellow pall.
The reference proportion for the flag of Vanuatu is 3:5.
The stored palette for Vanuatu contains Red, Green, Black and Yellow.
The adoption field for this country flag record is February 18, 1980.
The design record traces first use to 1980.
Kalontas Mahlon is credited in the dataset as the designer of the flag.
Its construction is grouped with the y-shaped pall design family in this library.
Boar’s tusk: Prosperity, worn as a pendant across the islands.
Namele leaves: Peace — the 39 leaflets stand for the 39 members of parliament.
The boar's tusk in the black triangle is a traditional symbol of prosperity, enclosing two crossed namele fern leaves.
The thirty-nine leaflets on the fern fronds correspond to the members of the country's legislature.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Flag of Vanuatu

What does the flag of Vanuatu look like?

Horizontal bicolour with a black hoist triangle and a yellow pall, with a recorded proportion of 3:5.

What proportion is recorded for the flag of Vanuatu?

The reference proportion stored for this flag is 3:5.

Which colours are recorded for the flag of Vanuatu?

The reference palette lists Red #D21034, Green #009543, Black #000000 and Yellow #FDCE12.

What do the symbols on the flag of Vanuatu represent?

Boar’s tusk — Prosperity, worn as a pendant across the islands. Namele leaves — Peace — the 39 leaflets stand for the 39 members of parliament. Y-shaped pall — The layout of the islands in the Pacific.

When was the present flag record for Vanuatu adopted?

The adoption field in this record is February 18, 1980.

Who designed the flag of Vanuatu?

The designer is recorded as Kalontas Mahlon.

Which design family does the flag of Vanuatu belong to?

WorldFlags.online groups it with y-shaped pall designs for visual browsing; that classification describes construction, not necessarily historical ancestry.