The flag of Ethiopia

1. 0130.8%

   Green

   አረንጓዴ

   The top stripe

   HEX

   #078930

   RGB

   7 137 48

   CMYK

   84 12 100 1

   Pantone

   355 C

2. 0224.6%

   Yellow

   ቢጫ

   The middle stripe, and the star and rays of the emblem

   HEX

   #FCDD09

   RGB

   252 221 9

   CMYK

   3 9 92 0

   Pantone

   Yellow C

3. 0330.7%

   Red

   ቀይ

   The bottom stripe

   HEX

   #DA121A

   RGB

   218 18 26

   CMYK

   14 100 79 4

   Pantone

   186 C

4. 0413.9%

   Blue

   ሰማያዊ

   The disc of the national emblem

   HEX

   #0F47AF

   RGB

   15 71 175

No law gives these codes. HEX and RGB are the colour this site draws the flag in; CMYK, Pantone and RAL are the values most often published for it.

A rectangle twice as long as it is high, divided into three horizontal stripes of equal height, green at the top, yellow in the middle and red at the bottom, with a blue disc at the centre whose edge reaches the middle of the green and red stripes, carrying a yellow star of straight equal lines and yellow rays between its points.

Stripes

Three horizontal stripes of the same size: green at the top, yellow in the middle, red at the bottom

Emblem

Set at the centre, with its circumference reaching the mid-point of the width of both the green and the red stripes

Star

Straight, equal yellow lines that join each other to form a star, with yellow rays radiating from the joints

Colours

The law asks for bright, basic colours and prints no shades

Green

Hope, fertility and wealth, in the reading the Amharic sources give; an earlier government text named the fertility of the country

Yellow

Flower and fruit in the Amharic reading; the government text named the religious freedom found in the country

Red

Sacrifice and heroism, the lives given in defence of the nation

The star

Built of equal intersecting lines to show the unity and equality of the nations, nationalities and peoples, and of creed and gender

The rays

Equidistant, and read as a bright future for the country

The blue disc

Peace and democracy

The colours in the Church

Before they were the colours of the state, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church used them: red for faith and power, yellow for the church and peace, green for natural wealth. Two French travellers of the nineteenth century called them the main colours of manuscript illumination

Pan-African colours

Several African countries took up green, yellow and red on independence in homage to Ethiopia's resistance to colonial rule, and the three became known as the Pan-African colours

Undated

Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Article 3

Defines the flag as three horizontal bands of equal size, green uppermost, yellow in the middle and red at the bottom, with a national emblem that reflects the equality of the nations, nationalities, peoples and religions of Ethiopia. Each member state of the federation may have its own flag and emblem.

Undated

Flag and Emblem Proclamation No. 16/1996

Described and illustrated the flag, with a light blue disc.

31 October 1996

Proclamation No. 48/1996

Published in the Federal Negarit Gazette, amending the Flag and Emblem Proclamation No. 16/1996.

28 August 2009

Federal Flag Proclamation No. 654/2009, Article 6

Replaced the 1996 proclamation and set a darker blue for the disc. It forbids using the flag without its emblem, defacing it with writing, signs or pictures, and making it in the wrong order of colours or size. Using the flag without the emblem carries a fine of 5000 birr or up to one year and six months of rigorous imprisonment; most other offences 3000 birr or up to one year. Article 16 makes the flag it specifies the only one.