The national flag ofIvory Coast (or Côte d'Ivoire) is a verticaltricolour of orange, white, and green, with a 2:3 width-to-length ratio. It was adopted on 3 December 1959 with the passing of law no. 59-240 by the IvorianLegislative Assembly, and is defined in Article 48 ofthe country's 2016 constitution. It is similar to theflag of Ireland, which is the same tricolour but reversed and with wider proportions.
The symbolism of the flag's colours and layout has been variously interpreted as representing aspects of the country's growth and geography. Thepresident's office uses the meaning assigned by then state ministerJean Delafosse [fr] in a speech he gave after the flag was adopted. Delafosse stated that orange represents Ivorians' land, struggle, and blood; white represents peace and order; and green represents hope and a better future.
The results of the1958 French constitutional referendum led to theFrench Fourth Republic being replaced with theFifth Republic and theFrench Union with theFrench Community, under which most colonies became "autonomous states",including Ivory Coast on 4 December 1958.[1] The new status allowed the adoption of a distinct flag for the first time, in place of theFrench flag.[2] The orange, white, and green tricolour was adopted by law no. 59-240, passed by the IvorianLegislative Assembly on 3 December 1959, just before the first anniversary of the country's autonomy.[3] The Frenchcommissioner had suggested a red, white, and blue tricolour with stars, but Ivorians wanted a greater departure from the flag of their former colonial ruler.[4] Conversely, the vexillologistWhitney Smith claimed that, in contrast to neighbouring post-colonial states, Ivory Coast rejected thepan-African colours of green, yellow, and red for its national flag because of its close ties to France.[5]
Augustin Loubao's proposal (1960)
Prime MinisterFélix Houphouët-Boigny declared full independence from France on 7 August 1960, and the Legislative Assembly sat as aconstituent assembly to draft a constitution.[4] Legislator Augustin Loubao proposed changing the orange band to red, to symbolise Ivorians' willingness to shed their blood to defend the new republic.[4] Other legislators opposed the proposed change,[4] and the existing flag was retained in Article 1 of the constitution adopted on 3 November 1960.[6][7] It was retained as Article 29 of the 2000 constitution[8][9] and Article 48 of the2016 constitution.[10]
The Ivorian flag flying alongside those of other countries inSan-Pédro
The design of the flag is defined in Article 48 of the Constitution of Ivory Coast (2016) as a "tricolour flag of orange, white, and green in vertical bands and of equal dimensions".[a][13] The width-to-length ratio of the flag is 2:3.[5] TheLondon Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) usedPantone codes PMS 151 for orange and PMS 347 for green in their manual for the2012 Summer Olympics.[14]
Colours of the Ivorian flag according to LOCOG[14][15]
After the flag was officially adopted on 3 December 1959, Minister of StateJean Delafosse [fr] presented the flag to the Legislative Assembly and gave the following explanation of its significance:
L'Emblème National doit être le vivant Symbole de la Patrie. L'Orange rappelant la couleur de notre terre riche et généreuse, c'est le sens de notre lutte, le sang d'un peuple jeune dans sa lutte pour notre émancipation; le Blanc, la paix, mais la paix du droit; le Vert, l'espérance, certes pour d'autres, mais pour nous, la certitude d'un devenir meilleur.[3][16]
The national [flag] must be the living symbol of the fatherland: orange recalling the colour of our rich and generous land, it is the meaning of our struggle, the blood of a young people in its struggle for our emancipation; white, peace, but the peace of law; green, hope, certainly for others, but for us, the certainty of a better future.
The office of thepresident of Ivory Coast repeats this anecdote and describes it as having "thus defined the meaning of [the flag]".[3] Smith similarly wrote in theEncyclopædia Britannica that the "symbolism of the colours was said to be dynamic national growth (orange), peace developing out of the purity and unity of all citizens (white), and hope for the future (green)".[5] However, when presenting the colours of the flag to the 1960 constitutional assembly, commissioner Mamadou Coulibaly gave a different explanation:
La bande Orange exprime l'éclat de l'épanouissement national, en même temps qu'elle fait penser aux Savanes du Nord. La bande Blanche magnifie la paix dans la pureté et l'union des cœurs et est le gage de notre succès et la bande Verte, expression de notre espérance dans l'avenir rappelle la luxuriante forêt vierge de Côte d'Ivoire, première grande source de la prospérité nationale.[4]
The orange band expresses the brilliance of national blossoming, while also serving as a reminder of thenorthern savannas. The white band glorifies peace in the purity and union of hearts, and is the pledge of our success; and the green band, expression of our hope for the future, recalls theluxuriant virgin forest of Ivory Coast, the first great source of national prosperity.
Smith describes the added meaning of the savannas and forests as unofficial.[5] The vertical alignment of the bands also symbolises Ivorian youth working towards a better future for their country, under thenational motto "Unity, Discipline and Work" (L'Union, la Discipline et le Travail).[4][5]
Contrasting flags: the flag of Ireland on the left and the flag of Ivory Coast on the right.[b]
The flag of Ivory Coast is similar to theflag of Ireland, which is the exact same tricolour but reversed (the green being on thehoist side)[17] and with a width-to-length ratio of 1:2[18][19] rather than 2:3.[5] Due to the similarity of the two flags,Ulster loyalists inNorthern Ireland have sometimesdesecrated the Ivorian flag, mistaking it for the Irish flag. For example, during Ulster celebrations ofthe Twelfth in 2013, large Ivorian flags were burned in abonfire inBelfast instead of Irish ones.[20][21] In 2014, a Belfast shop hanging the Ivorian flag as part of aFIFA World Cup display labelled it accordingly to avoid confusion with the Irish flag.[22] Conversely, when Ivorian sprinterMurielle Ahouré-Demps celebrated winning gold at the2018 World Indoor 60-meter dash, for lack of an Ivorian flag to wave, she borrowed an Irish flag from a spectator and reversed it.[23]
^abc"Symboles" [Symbols].www.presidence.ci (in French). Office of the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire. Archived fromthe original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved5 September 2025.
^"5 Symboles de la République" [5 Symbols of the Republic](PDF) (in French). Ministry of Public Service (Ivory Coast). 2018.Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved5 September 2025.
.svg)
