Flag of Mauritius


The national flag of Mauritius, also known as The Four Bands, was adopted upon independence, 12 March 1968. It consists of four horizontal bands of equal width, coloured red, blue, yellow, and green. The flag was recorded at the College of Arms in London on 9 January 1968.
The flag was designed by Gurudutt Moher whose contribution was recognised posthumously in March 2018 in the form of the national title Member of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. Moher, who was a retired school teacher, died of a heart attack on 7 October 2017, at the age of 93.
The civil ensign and government ensign are red and blue flags, respectively, each with the national flag in the canton and the coat of arms of Mauritius in the fly. They are based on the British Red and Blue Ensigns.
The naval ensign is an unusual design consisting of red, white, and blue vertical stripes of unequal widths defaced by a central anchor/key emblem.

Colours

Under current legislation through The National Flag, Arms of Mauritius, National Anthem and Other National Symbols of Mauritius Act, it sets out the flag of Mauritius as consisting of red, blue, yellow and green bands.
It also indicates the symbolism behind the meaning of the colours of the flag:
  • Red represents the struggle for freedom and independence.
  • Blue represents the Indian Ocean, in which Mauritius is situated.
  • Yellow represents the light of freedom shining over the island.
  • Green represents the agriculture of Mauritius and its colour throughout the 12 months of the year.
In an attempt to unite the nation, especially following the deadly and divisive riots of 1965 and those of 1968, the colours also have political origins. Indeed, the colours also represent the main political parties which existed at the time, namely:
  • Red: Parti Travailliste, a social-democrat party
  • Blue: PMSD, conservative
  • Yellow: IFB, socialist, Indo-Mauritian
  • Green: CAM, Muslim Indo-Mauritians interests
The colour codes set for the four colours of the flag under law are dictated in Pantone fashion home cotton and that the tolerance for overlapping between 2 different colours be no more than one millimetre. The table below converts the Pantone colours in various other colour codes, corresponding to the official colours:
ColoursRedBlueYellowGreen
Pantone18-1664TC19-3939TC14-0957TC17-6030TC
CMYK0/87/85/1949/43/0/650/26/90/3100/0/34/47
RGB208/28/3145/51/89247/183/240/134/88
Hexadecimal#D01C1F#2D3359#F7B718#008658

Sizes

The official sizes of the flag are in accordance with The National Flag, Arms of Mauritius, National Anthem and Other National Symbols of Mauritius Act. The flag size is in the ratio of 2:3.
Flag typeWidth × Height
Colour band
height
Mast1800 × 1200300
Desk/Handheld150 × 10025
Car300 × 20050