The flag of Costa Rica
The flag of Costa Rica
Five horizontal stripes — blue, white, a double-height red, white, blue — with the coat of arms in a white oval toward the hoist on the state version.
Ratio 3:5 · current design adopted 1906
The red stripe was added in 1848 in explicit tribute to the French revolutionary tricolour, by the president's wife, Pacífica Fernández — before that Costa Rica flew the plain Central American blue-white-blue. Thailand's flag is the same five-stripe arrangement with the red and blue exchanged, and the two are genuinely hard to tell apart at a glance. The state flag carries an oval coat of arms showing three volcanoes and two ships; the civil flag does not. Seven stars were added to that coat of arms in 1906 for the seven provinces.
Flags it gets confused with
| Flag | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Thailand | The middle and outer colours are swapped: Thailand is red-white-blue-white-red with a double-height blue centre. |
What the colours mean
- Blue
#002B7FThe sky, opportunity, perseverance and eternity - White
#FFFFFFPeace, wisdom and happiness - Red
#CE1126The warmth of the people and the blood shed for freedom
Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.
- Ratio
- 3:5
- Current design adopted
- 1906
- Colours
- blue, white, red
Common questions
- What does the flag of Costa Rica look like?
- Five horizontal stripes — blue, white, a double-height red, white, blue — with the coat of arms in a white oval toward the hoist on the state version.
- What do the colours of the Costa Rica flag mean?
- Blue: the sky, opportunity, perseverance and eternity. White: peace, wisdom and happiness. Red: the warmth of the people and the blood shed for freedom.
- How do you tell the Costa Rica flag from the Thailand one?
- The middle and outer colours are swapped: Thailand is red-white-blue-white-red with a double-height blue centre.
- When was the Costa Rica flag adopted?
- The current design dates from 1906, and its official ratio is 3:5.
Related pages
- Costa Rica Capital, area, population and currency
- The flag of Thailand Routinely mistaken for this one
- Every flag with blue in it
- The flag of United States Ratio 10:19
- The flag of India Ratio 2:3
- The flag of United Kingdom Ratio 1:2
- The flag of France Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Russia Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Brazil Ratio 7:10
- The flag of Australia Ratio 1:2
- The flag of South Korea Ratio 2:3
Sources
- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))