---
title: "Flag of Guyana: colours and meaning"
description: "What every colour and symbol on the Guyana flag stands for, its official 3:5 ratio, and the year the current design was adopted. Plus the flags it gets mistaken for."
url: https://atoneplace.net/flag/guyana/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The flag of Guyana

**The flag of Guyana: A green field with a red triangle at the hoist edged in black, and a longer yellow arrowhead triangle edged in white pointing to the fly.**

Ratio 3:5 · current design adopted 1966

The Golden Arrowhead was designed by Whitney Smith, the American scholar who coined the word "vexillology" and founded the discipline — making it one of the very few national flags designed by a professional flag researcher. Smith's original submission had no black or white; the College of Arms in London added the two fimbriations to separate the colours, which is standard heraldic practice and improved the design. It was raised at independence in May 1966. The arrowhead shape is unusual enough that the flag is instantly identifiable at any size.

## 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.*

- **Green** (#009E49) — Forests and agriculture
- **Yellow** (#FCD116) — Mineral wealth
- **Red** (#CE1126) — The zeal and dynamism of nation-building
- **Black** (#000000) — Endurance
- **White** (#FFFFFF) — The rivers and waters of the country

- **Ratio:** 3:5
- **Current design adopted:** 1966
- **Colours:** green, yellow, red, black, white

## Common questions

### What does the flag of Guyana look like?

A green field with a red triangle at the hoist edged in black, and a longer yellow arrowhead triangle edged in white pointing to the fly.

### What do the colours of the Guyana flag mean?

Green: forests and agriculture. Yellow: mineral wealth. Red: the zeal and dynamism of nation-building. Black: endurance. White: the rivers and waters of the country.

### When was the Guyana flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1966, and its official ratio is 3:5.

## Related pages

- [Guyana](https://atoneplace.net/country/guyana/)
- [Every flag with green in it](https://atoneplace.net/flag/colour/green/)
- [The flag of India](https://atoneplace.net/flag/india/)
- [The flag of Brazil](https://atoneplace.net/flag/brazil/)
- [The flag of Italy](https://atoneplace.net/flag/italy/)
- [The flag of Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/flag/mexico/)
- [The flag of Ireland](https://atoneplace.net/flag/ireland/)
- [The flag of South Africa](https://atoneplace.net/flag/south-africa/)
- [The flag of Jamaica](https://atoneplace.net/flag/jamaica/)
- [The flag of Pakistan](https://atoneplace.net/flag/pakistan/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]