🇲🇼 The colours of Malawi

Malawi’s flag features black, red, and green, with a rising red sun. Black stands for the people of Africa, red for the blood shed in their struggle, and green for the land’s natural richness. The sun symbolises hope and freedom for Africa.

Where no official value is given, the swatch shows the colour family, not the exact shade.

• The rising sun symbolises hope and freedom for Africa.
• Black stands for the people of Africa.
• Red represents the blood shed during the struggle for independence.
• Green symbolises the country’s natural environment.
• The flag’s colours follow British standard shades.

The colours of the flag of Malawi

Malawi’s flag has three horizontal stripes: black at the top, red in the middle, and green at the bottom. A red rising sun sits in the black band. The black stripe stands for the people of Africa, the red for the blood shed during the struggle for independence, and the green for the country’s natural environment. The rising sun is meant to show hope and freedom for the continent, marking a new beginning as more African nations gained independence. These meanings are officially stated.

How the colours were chosen of Malawi

The flag was first adopted in 1964 when Malawi became independent. Its design closely follows the Pan-African flag, but with the order of the red and black bands reversed and a rising red sun added. In 2010, a new flag was introduced with the stripes rearranged to match the Pan-African flag and a full white sun in the centre, meant to symbolise economic progress. This change was unpopular and widely opposed. In 2012, Malawi returned to its original flag.

Official shades and rules of Malawi

The flag’s colours are specified using British standard colour shades, the same as those on the flags of Kenya and South Sudan. No official hex codes are provided in the sources.