---
title: "Flag of Croatia: colours and meaning"
description: "What every colour and symbol on the Croatia flag stands for, its official 1:2 ratio, and the year the current design was adopted."
url: https://atoneplace.net/flag/croatia/
site: "At One Place"
---

# 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

*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.*

- **Red** (#FF0000) — Pan-Slavic, and the first squares of the chequerboard
- **White** (#FFFFFF) — Pan-Slavic
- **Blue** (#171796) — Pan-Slavic

## 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

- [Croatia](https://atoneplace.net/country/croatia/)
- [Every flag with red in it](https://atoneplace.net/flag/colour/red/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [The flag of United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-kingdom/)
- [The flag of Canada](https://atoneplace.net/flag/canada/)
- [The flag of France](https://atoneplace.net/flag/france/)
- [The flag of China](https://atoneplace.net/flag/china/)
- [The flag of Germany](https://atoneplace.net/flag/germany/)
- [The flag of Russia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/russia/)
- [The flag of Italy](https://atoneplace.net/flag/italy/)

## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]