Marshall Islands Flag

How to identify it

A blue field crossed by widening orange and white diagonal bands, with a 24-pointed white star in the upper flagpole corner.

Design and construction

Proportions

10:19

Adoption and legal status

Adopted by Bill No. 4 (P.L. 1979-1) of the Nirijela (Parliament), approved 22 June 1979 and effective from self-government on 1 May 1979. It was designed by Emlain Kabua, the first First Lady.

Construction

A blue field crossed by two contiguous diagonal bars, orange above white, running from the lower hoist corner toward the upper fly corner, with a 24-point white star in the upper hoist corner; the four points parallel to the hoist and fly are longer than the other twenty.

Officially documented meaning

The rising diagonal band is read as the equator, with orange for the Ratak ("sunrise") chain and white for the Ralik ("sunset") chain of islands. The 24 star points stand for the nation's 24 electoral districts, and the four elongated points mark the cultural centres of Majuro, Jaluit, Wotje and Ebeye.

Sources