🇲🇻 The colours of the Maldives

Maldives uses a flag with a green centre, a red border, and a white crescent. Red stands for the courage and sacrifice of the country's defenders, green for peace and wellbeing, and the crescent for Islam, which is the official religion.

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

• The flag has a green centre with a red border and a white crescent.
• Red stands for the blood and sacrifice of national heroes.
• Green is linked to peace and prosperity.
• The crescent moon symbolises Islam, the state religion.
• The flag’s current form was set in 1965.

The colours of the flag of the Maldives

The Maldivian flag is made up of a green rectangle in the middle, surrounded by a red frame. In the centre sits a white crescent moon, with its open side facing away from the flagpole. Each colour is linked to a particular idea: red is for those who have given their lives or shown bravery for the country, green is for the nation’s hope for peace and a good life, and the white crescent moon is a sign of the country’s Islamic faith. These meanings are officially recognised.

How the colours were chosen of the Maldives

Maldives’ earliest flag was simply red. Later, a striped section in black and white was added next to the flagpole. In the early 1900s, a crescent was introduced, and a version with a green rectangle became the state flag. After the first republic was declared in 1953, the crescent was turned to face the flagpole. When the Sultanate returned, a new flag for the Sultan included a star. Independence in 1965 led to the removal of the striped section, resulting in the flag as it is today.

Official shades and rules of the Maldives

The flag’s design is set: a green rectangle at the centre, bordered by red, with a white crescent moon in the middle. The crescent’s closed side must face the flagpole. No official colour codes or proportions are given in the sources.