Flag of Benin

Meaning and history of the flag of Benin

The flag of Benin has a green vertical stripe on the hoist side and two horizontal stripes to its right, yellow on top and red below. The colors are the traditional Pan-African ones: green symbolizes hope and renewal, yellow represents the country's wealth, and red evokes the courage of its ancestors.

The original flag was adopted on November 16, 1959, a year before independence from France. Following the 1972 coup and the establishment of the People's Republic of Benin under the Marxist-Leninist regime of Mathieu Kérékou, it was replaced in 1975 by an all-green flag bearing a red star in the canton. With the fall of the communist regime and the transition to democracy, the original flag was restored on August 1, 1990.

Benin's flag design resembles several other African flags that use Pan-African colors, particularly those of Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Cameroon. The inverted-L arrangement of the green stripe alongside the yellow and red bands gives it a relatively unusual configuration, setting it apart from the typical vertical or horizontal African tricolors. Benin, formerly known as Dahomey, was among the first African states to adopt Pan-African colors on its flag.

You can view the flag of Benin in high resolution above and download it in several sizes for personal, educational or reference use. To explore more, visit the full Benin profile, its map, or the current local time in Porto-Novo.