The flag of Mali
Mali flew this flag with a black stylised human figure — a kanaga — on the yellow band for its first year, and removed it in 1961 after objections from Muslim religious opinion to the depiction of the human form. What is left is the simplest flag in the green-yellow-red family, and the one every other member is distinguished from. The colours are Pan-African in the Ghanaian sense, adopted at independence from France in 1960. Guinea's flag is the exact reverse, which is a deliberate mirror rather than an accident.
Flags it gets confused with
Field and colours only. Not shown: a green five-pointed star centred on the yellow band.
Drawn at each flag’s own official ratio, which is itself the difference in some of these pairs.
| Flag | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Senegal | Senegal adds a green star on the yellow band. |
| Guinea | Guinea is the same three colours in reverse order — red at the hoist. |
| Cameroon | Cameroon adds a yellow star on the red band. |
What the colours mean
- Green
#14B53AThe fertility of the land - Yellow
#FCD116Purity, and the country's mineral wealth - Red
#CE1126The blood shed for independence
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
- 2:3
- Current design adopted
- 1961
- Colours
- green, yellow, red
Common questions
- What does the flag of Mali look like?
- Three equal vertical bands of green, yellow and red, with no emblem.
- What do the colours of the Mali flag mean?
- Green: the fertility of the land. Yellow: purity, and the country's mineral wealth. Red: the blood shed for independence.
- How do you tell the Mali flag from the Senegal one?
- Senegal adds a green star on the yellow band.
- When was the Mali flag adopted?
- The current design dates from 1961, and its official ratio is 2:3.
Related pages
- Mali Capital, area, population and currency
- The flag of Senegal Routinely mistaken for this one
- The flag of Cameroon Routinely mistaken for this one
- Every flag with green in it
- The flag of India Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Brazil Ratio 7:10
- The flag of Italy Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Mexico Ratio 4:7
- The flag of Ireland Ratio 1:2
- The flag of South Africa Ratio 2:3
- The flag of Jamaica Ratio 1:2
- The flag of Pakistan Ratio 2:3
Sources
- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))