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The flag of Croatia

The flag of Croatia
Three equal horizontal bands of red, white and blue, with the chequered Croatian shield and a crown of five smaller shields at the centre.
Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1990

The chequerboard always starts with a white square in the top left in the current design, a detail that carries political weight because the wartime Ustaše version started with red. The crown of five historic shields above it was added in 1990 and is the part that makes the flag distinctive at a distance. Croatia's national football shirt uses the same chequerboard, which is why the pattern is far more recognisable internationally than the flag itself. The tricolour beneath is the same pan-Slavic set as Serbia's and Slovenia's, in yet another order.

What the colours mean

  • Red #FF0000 Pan-Slavic, and the first squares of the chequerboard
  • White #FFFFFF Pan-Slavic
  • Blue #171796 Pan-Slavic

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.

The symbols on it

What What it stands for
Šahovnica A 5×5 red and white chequerboard, the Croatian arms since at least 1495
Five small shields Croatia, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia
Ratio
1:2
Current design adopted
1990
Colours
red, white, blue

Common questions

What does the flag of Croatia look like?
Three equal horizontal bands of red, white and blue, with the chequered Croatian shield and a crown of five smaller shields at the centre.
What do the colours of the Croatia flag mean?
Red: pan-Slavic, and the first squares of the chequerboard. White: pan-Slavic. Blue: pan-Slavic.
When was the Croatia flag adopted?
The current design dates from 1990, and its official ratio is 1:2.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked