Flag of Bangladesh
Native & traditional name: বাংলাদেশের জাতীয় পতাকা (Jātīẏa Patākā)
| Flag | Bangladesh (BD) |
|---|---|
| Type | National flag (national, civil, state) |
| Proportion | 3:5 (3:5) |
| Primary colors | green, red |
| Main symbol | disc |
| Arrangement | centered centered emblem |
| Official adoption | 1972-01-17 — People's Republic of Bangladesh Flag Rules, 1972 (removing the golden map from the 1971 Liberation War flag) |
| Region | Southern Asia |
Plain-language visual description
The flag of Bangladesh features a dark bottle-green rectangular field in a 3:5 proportion charged with a large bright red circular disc shifted slightly toward the hoist.
Construction and geometry
Proportion & symmetry: The Flag of Bangladesh uses a statutory 3:5 height-to-width ratio on a rectangular field with horizontal mirror symmetry. Length to width is 10:6 (3:5). The red disc has a radius of 1/5 of the flag length, centered at 9/20 of the length from the hoist so it appears optically centered when flying.
- The flag's length-to-width ratio is 10:6 (3:5). The red disc has a radius equal to 1/5 of the flag's length.
- Its center lies on the horizontal midline at 9/20 (45 percent) of the length from the hoist edge so that the disc appears optically centered when the fly flutters in the wind.
Official colors and specification system
Rather than manufacturing false RGB precision where a statute specifies dyed cloth, Pantone, Munsell, or CIE coordinates, the table below records the governing color system alongside a calibrated display hex approximation.
| Color | Official shade name | Specification system | Statutory / standard code | Display hex |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| green | Bottle Green | british-standard | Procion Brilliant Green H-2RS 50 parts per 1000 | #006A4E |
| red | Bright Red | british-standard | Procion Brilliant Orange H-2RS 60 parts per 1000 | #F42A41 |
Meaning and symbolism
Documented symbolism
According to the People's Republic of Bangladesh Flag Rules, 1972, the bottle-green field represents the lush vegetation, youth, and agricultural vitality of the Bengal delta, while the red disc symbolizes the rising sun of independence and the blood shed during the 1971 Liberation War.
Common interpretations
Commentators frequently compare the design to Japan's Hinomaru, noting the shared rising-sun motif, though the Bangladeshi flag was independently designed by student activists in 1970 with deliberate anti-colonial symbolism.
History and design evolution
The precursor to the Bangladeshi national flag was created in June 1970 by student leaders of the Swadhin Bangla Nucleus at the University of Dhaka, including Shib Narayan Das, who placed a golden silhouette map of East Bengal inside a red sun disc on a dark green field. The design deliberately avoided the crescent and star of the Pakistani flag.
This map-bearing flag was first raised publicly at the University of Dhaka on 2 March 1971 and served as the rallying standard of the provisional government and Mukti Bahini guerrilla forces throughout the nine-month Bangladesh Liberation War.
Shortly after independence, on 17 January 1972, the cabinet under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman adopted the simplified definitive design prepared by artist Quamrul Hassan. Removing the intricate golden map made the flag far easier to manufacture accurately, ensured that the sun emblem appeared identical on both the obverse and reverse sides of the cloth, and established the 10:6 ratio with a slight hoist offset.
Key historical milestones
- 1970Student activist design: Student leaders at Dhaka University design a green flag with a red disc containing a golden map of East Bengal.
- 1971First public hoisting: Raised at Dhaka University on 2 March 1971 and used throughout the Liberation War.
- 1972Simplified national flag adopted: The 1972 Flag Rules remove the central map and establish the 10:6 ratio with the 9/20 hoist-offset red disc.
Frequently confused with
The Flag of Bangladesh is commonly confused with the following national flags due to shared colors, stripe geometry, or central emblems:
Visually and structurally similar flags
Ranked deterministically across layout family (35%), color overlap and stripe order (25%), symbols (20%), aspect ratio (10%), and stripe/symmetry geometry (10%):
Sources and image-rights provenance
SVG artwork provenance: Constructed from statutory specifications (public-domain-statute, verified 2026-10-13, SHA-256 7b714df8c57e…).