Europe

Flag of Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a country in southeastern Europe on the Black Sea coast with one of the longest recorded national histories in Europe, having been established as a kingdom in 681 AD. The Cyrillic alphabet, now used by hundreds of millions of people, was developed by Bulgarian monks Saints Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. Bulgaria is known for its rose oil production, ancient Thracian treasures, Black Sea resorts, and UNESCO-listed Rila Monastery.

CapitalSofia
RegionEurope
Current flag since1990
Main coloursWhite, Green, Red
Populationabout 6.4 million
Areaabout 111,000 km²
Flags in history5

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Bulgaria means

White is usually said to stand for peace, green for the land and its farming, and red for the courage of the people and the blood shed for freedom. The tricolour was first raised during the struggle against Ottoman rule and became official in the Tarnovo Constitution of 1879, after the Russo-Turkish War. Under communism the state emblem was placed on the white stripe; it was removed in 1990.

How to recognise it

Horizontal white-green-red. Hungary is red-white-green. Italy is vertical green-white-red.

Did you know?

Bulgaria invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which is now used by over 250 million people worldwide.

Easily confused with

Bulgaria's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Hungary

Italy

Mexico

Flag history of Bulgaria

Every flag that has flown over Bulgaria, from today back through time.

1990–present

Current tricolor

With the fall of communism the socialist emblem was removed, returning Bulgaria to the plain white-green-red tricolor. The green was originally inspired by Russia's Pan-Slavic flag.

1971–1990

People's Republic (681 emblem)

The final socialist emblem added the date 681, marking the founding of the First Bulgarian Empire, alongside 1944 — the communist coup. This long-lived design ended in 1990.

1967–1971

People's Republic (revised emblem)

A redesigned emblem with white wheat replaced the earlier gold version; the lion-and-star device remained in the upper hoist canton.

1948–1967

People's Republic (first emblem)

The communist republic added a socialist emblem with a rampant lion, wheat ears and a red star to the canton, dated 9.IX.1944 for the communist coup.

1879–1948

Principality & Kingdom

After liberation from Ottoman rule, Bulgaria adopted the plain white-green-red tricolor, which served the principality and kingdom until the communist era — and was restored unchanged in 1990.

Related historical states

Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of Bulgaria.

1844–1922

Ottoman Empire

The red field with white crescent and star was standardized in 1844; older Ottoman banners varied widely and often carried multiple crescents.

1908–1946

Kingdom of Bulgaria

The white-green-red tricolor of the 'Third Bulgarian State', a kingdom under the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha tsars, abolished by referendum in favor of a communist republic in 1946.

1878–1885

Eastern Rumelia

An autonomous Ottoman province created by the Congress of Berlin, with a white flag and green canton; it unilaterally united with Bulgaria after a bloodless 1885 coup.