Country flag

Libya Flag

Libya’s national flag is defined by Article 3 of the 2011 Constitutional Declaration as a red, black, and green horizontal tricolour bearing a white cre...

Where is Libya?

The highlighted area marks the country on the world map.

About Libya and its flag

Libya’s national flag is defined by Article 3 of the 2011 Constitutional Declaration as a red, black, and green horizontal tricolour bearing a white crescent and five-pointed star. A U.S. Air Force country guide records its official re-adoption in 2011.

Flag design and meaning

Article 3 sets the flag’s length at twice its width. Red is the upper stripe, black the central stripe, and green the lower stripe; the black area equals the two outer stripes together. A white crescent and five-pointed white star are centred on the black band.

The coloured bands: A U.S. Air Force guide presents a regional interpretation: red for Fezzan, black for Cyrenaica, and green for Tripolitania. It also records a different reading of red and black as blood from foreign occupations and green as nature and peace.
White crescent and star: The same guide explains the crescent and star as representing Islam, which it describes as the nation’s dominant religion.

History and adoption

The tricolour was first adopted in 1951; the U.S. Air Force culture guide reports that it was suppressed under the Qadhafi regime and officially re-adopted in 2011. Store norske leksikon records that, after Libya left its federation in 1977, authorities introduced a plain green 1:2 flag that remained in use until the 2011 revolution.

How to recognise this flag

The central black band is twice the height of either outer band.
Find the white crescent with a five-pointed white star between its tips in the centre of the black stripe.