Belgium Flag

How to identify it

Black, yellow and red vertical bands. Germany uses the same three colours stacked horizontally, and Belgium is drawn on a squarer rectangle.

Design and construction

Proportions

13:15

Adoption and legal status

Enshrined in the constitution on 23 January 1831, though the constitution did not fix stripe order or orientation; the vertical black-yellow-red arrangement became the settled official form afterward.

Construction

Three equal vertical bands of black, yellow and red, black nearest the hoist.

Officially documented meaning

The colours derive from the coat of arms of the historic Duchy of Brabant, which shows a gold lion with red tongue and claws on a black field.

History of the design

The original 1830 flag used the same three colours in horizontal bands, in the reverse order (red-yellow-black); the vertical black-yellow-red format was settled shortly after the constitution.

Sources