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Namibia

image by Zoltan Horvath, 6 Aug 2024

Namibian flag (1990 - )
Flag construction sheet
Colour specifications

See also:

Namibian flag (1990 - )

On 21 March 1990 South West Africa gained its independence as the Republic of Namibia and adopted a new flag. The design was chosen by a committee which had been established to investigate and provide technical advice on new national symbols for Namibia. The public has been requested to submit designs and 835 designs were received. The official description of the flag is as follows:

The National Flag of Namibia shall be rectangular, in the proportion of three in the length to two in width, tirced per bend reversed, blue, white and green; the white bend reversed, which shall be one third of the width of the flag, is charged with another of red, one quarter of the width of the flag. In the upper hoist there shall be a gold sun with twelve straight rays, the diameter of which shall be one third of the width of the flag, with its vertical axis one fifth of the distance from the hoist, positioned equidistant from the top edge and from the reversed bend. The rays, which shall each be two-fifths of the radius of the sun, issue from the outer edge of a blue ring, which shall be one tenth the radius of the sun.

Although no colour has a specific meaning, the symbolism attributed to the national flag by the Chairman of the National Symbols Sub-committee at a press conference on 02 February 1990 is as follows:

Red - represents Namibia's most important resource, its people. It refers to their heroism and their determination to build a future of equal opportunity for all;
White - refers to peace and unity
Green - symbolises vegetation and agricultural resources
Blue - represents the clear Namibian sky and the Atlantic Ocean, the country's precious water resources and rain;
and the golden-yellow sun represents life and energy.

Source: Coats of Arms and Flags in Namibia by FG Brownell - a series of 8 articles appearing in Archives News from April - December 1990.
Bruce Berry 13 Feb 1998

The main colours were taken from the flag of SWAPO (South West African People's Organization), the most important liberation movement. This flag was adopted in 1971 and comprises horizontal stripes of blue-red-green, the most important colours of the Ovambo's, the county's largest ethnic population.
Source: Jos Poels, "Prisma Vlaggenboek", 1990.
Mark Sensen, 10 Aug 1999

National Flag. CSW/CSW 2:3
The flag is described in details from official source. All the dimensions are provided for. The distance of the sun emblem from the upper edge and the diagonal is only stated to have to be equal. I designated them the letter d to indicate that. While drawing the flag this size came (on three digits) as 3.175 (or if you want from the center of the sun d+5=8.175) but I haven't tried to prove this mathematically.
Željko Heimer, 03 Jul 2002

I have done mathematical research and my answer is 3.170740241 (from bend to border of sun-circle). (24-5/cosA)/(1+1/cosA)-5A=arctan(30/45). But if we use only two-digital ciphers the answer shall be 3.18. We can say that 3.175 is correct too.
Victor Lomantsov, 03 Jul 2002

Flag construction sheet

image by Željko Heimer, 03 Jul 2002

The specification we show, particularly the position of the sun, is correct according to the official diagram which accompanied "The National Flag of Namibia, General Policy for use of the flag by the public" issued by the Ministry of Information in 1990. This last also contains the full text of Chapter One, Schedule 6 of the Constitution dated 9 February 1990 (effective 12 March 1990) that established the flag, and which reads as follows:

THE NATIONAL FLAG OF THE REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA
The National Flag of the Republic of Namibia shall be rectangular in the proportion of three in the length to two in the width, tierced per bend reversed, blue, white and green; the white bend reversed, which shall be one-third of the width of the flag, is charged with another of red, one-quarter the width of the flag. In the upper hoist there shall be a gold sun with twelve straight rays, the diameter of which shall be one-third the width of the flag, with its vertical axis one-fifth the distance from the hoist, positioned equidistant from the top edge and from the reversed bend. The rays, which shall each be two-fifths of the radius of the sun, issue from a blue ring, which shall be one-tenth the radius of the sun.
Christopher Southworth, 14 Mar 2004

Colour specifications

The colors of national flag are defined by National Symbols of the Republic of Namibia Act, 2018:
https://www.lac.org.na/laws/2018/6807.pdf:
Blue: Pantone 294c, Coates SP 5 809
Yellow (gold): Pantone 116c, Coates SP 1 802
Green: Pantone 347c, Coates SP 65
Red: Pantone 186c, Coates SP 35

Zoltan Horvath, 6 Aug 2024

The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual, London, 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations for national flag designs. Each National Olympic Committee was sent an image of their flag, including the PMS shades, by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) for their approval. Once this was obtained, the LOCOG produced a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specifications may not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what the National Olympic Committee believed their flag to be.

For Namibia : PMS 123 yellow, 485 red, reflex blue, 347 green. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 Oct 2012

Other sources for colors:

The Album des Pavillons 1990 [pay98] (Corr. No. 30.) gives approximate colors in Pantone and CMYK systems:
Blue: Pantone 293c, CMYK 100-60-0-0
Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK 0-90-80-5
Green: Pantone 347c, CMYK 100-0-80-10
Yellow: Pantone 116c, CMYK 0-10-95-0

The Flag Manual - Beijing 2008 gives Pantone colors: PMS 192 (red), PMS 109 (yellow), PMS 293 (blue), and PMS 348 (green).

The Album des Pavillons 2000 [pay00] (Corr. No. 5.) gives approximate colors in Pantone and CMYK systems:
Blue: Pantone 294c, CMYK 100-60-0-15
Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK 0-90-80-5
Green: Pantone 347c, CMYK 100-0-80-10
Yellow: Pantone 116c, CMYK 0-10-95-0

Flags and Anthems Manual London 2012 [g9b12] gives Pantone colors: PMS 123 (yellow), PMS 485 (red), PMS Reflex Blue, and PMS 347 (green).

The Album des Pavillons 2023 specifies the colors of the flags in three color systems:
Blue: Pantone 290c, CMYK 29-7-4-0, RGB 190-217-237
Blue: Pantone 294c, CMYK 100-84-26-6, RGB 0-53-128
Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK 10-100-74-2, RGB 210-16-52
Brown: Pantone 4645c, CMYK 25-45-62-16, RGB 177-127-92
Yellow: Pantone 116c, CMYK 0-19-93-0, RGB 255-206-0
Green: Pantone 347c, CMYK 84-12-94-1, RGB 0-149-67

Vexilla Mundi gives colors in Pantone system: PMS 293C (blue), PMS 347C (green), PMS 200C (red), PMS 123C (yellow), and PMS White.

Wikipedia illustrates the flag, the construction sheet, refers to Flag Law and gives the color values:
Blue: Pantone 294 C, Coates SP 5 809, RGB 0-47-108, Hex #002F6C
Yellow gold: Pantone 116 C, Coates SP 1 802, RGB 255-205-0, Hex #FFCD00
Green: Pantone 347 C, Coates SP 65, RGB 0-154-68, Hex #009A44
Red: Pantone 186 C, Coates SP 35, RGB 200-16-46, Hex #C8102E

Flag Color Codes gives the following color values:
Reflex Blue: Hex #001489, RGB 0-20-137, CMYK 100-87-0-20, Pantone Reflex Blue, RAL 5002
Yellow: Hex #FFC72C, RGB 255-199-44, CMYK 0-16-89-0, Pantone 123, RAL 1018
White: Hex #FFFFFF, RGB 255-255-255, CMYK 0-0-0-0, Pantone N/A, RAL N/A
Red: Hex #DA291C, RGB 218-41-28, CMYK 0-95-100-0, Pantone 485, RAL 3028
Green: Hex #009A44, RGB 0-154-68, CMYK 92-0-97-0, Pantone 347, RAL 6024

Zoltan Horvath, 6 Aug 2024