Oceania

Flag of Kiribati

Kiribati (pronounced 'Kiribas') is a Pacific island nation spanning three island groups across the central Pacific and is the world's only country to straddle all four hemispheres — north, south, east, and west. Its 33 atolls and one raised coral island are spread across an ocean area larger than India. Kiribati faces an existential threat from rising sea levels, with most of its land just one to two metres above sea level.

CapitalSouth Tarawa
RegionOceania
Current flag since1979
Main coloursRed, Blue, Yellow, White
Populationabout 130,000
Areaabout 810 km²
GeographyIsland nation
Flags in history2

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Kiribati means

The frigate bird stands for authority, freedom and Kiribati's culture, the sun for the islands' place on the equator, and the blue and white waves for the Pacific Ocean. The three white bands are often linked to the three island groups: the Gilbert, Phoenix and Line Islands. The flag was adopted at independence in 1979.

More about the flag

Before independence the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony flew a British Blue Ensign with a badge showing the same frigate bird over a rising sun, designed in the 1930s by the colonial officer Arthur Grimble. Kiribati, pronounced Kiribas, became independent on 12 July 1979. Its islands straddle the equator, and in 1995 it moved the International Date Line so that all of them share the same day.

How to recognise it

Red upper half with a yellow frigate bird over a rising sun; blue lower half with three wavy white stripes.

Did you know?

Kiribati is the only country in the world to lie in all four hemispheres simultaneously.

Flag history of Kiribati

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

1979–present

Flag of Kiribati

Adopted at independence in 1979, the golden frigatebird flying over a rising sun and three white waves is based directly on the colonial coat of arms granted to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands in 1937.

1937–1979

Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony

Before independence the Gilberts (now Kiribati) and the Ellice Islands (now Tuvalu) were one British colony, flying the Blue Ensign with the colonial badge — the frigatebird, rising sun and waves granted in 1937. That badge became the basis for Kiribati's national flag when the colony split and the Gilberts gained independence in 1979.

Other flags in red, blue, yellow and white

4 other national flags use the same main colours as Kiribati's.

Play Globalio and learn Kiribati's flag