Europe

Flag of Romania

Romania is a country at the intersection of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, home to the legendary Transylvania region, the Carpathian Mountains, and the biodiverse Danube Delta. The country emerged dramatically from communist rule in December 1989, when Nicolae Ceaușescu's government was overthrown in the only violent revolution of the Eastern Bloc's 1989 wave. Romania joined the EU in 2007 and is known for its medieval citadels, painted monasteries of Bucovina, and unique folk traditions.

CapitalBucharest
RegionEurope
Current flag since1989
Main coloursBlue, Yellow, Red
Populationabout 19 million
Areaabout 238,000 km²
Flags in history6

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Romania means

Blue, yellow and red came together in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia and were used as a tricolour in the 1848 revolution and again from 1866. Under communism the state emblem was placed in the centre. In December 1989 revolutionaries cut the emblem out, and the plain tricolour was restored. The flag is nearly identical to Chad's, which uses a darker shade of blue.

How to recognise it

Vertical blue-yellow-red. Chad is nearly identical, but its blue is darker.

Did you know?

Romania's Bran Castle is marketed as Dracula's Castle, though Vlad the Impaler barely visited it.

Easily confused with

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

Chad

Andorra

Moldova

Flag history of Romania

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

1989–present

Current tricolor

Post-revolution Romania restored the plain blue-yellow-red tricolor without any emblem. The official cobalt blue, chrome yellow and vermilion red shades were later fixed by law.

1989

1989 Revolution 'flag with the hole'

During the December 1989 revolution, protesters cut the socialist emblem out of the flag's center, leaving a defiant hole. It became the iconic image of the overthrow of Ceaușescu.

1965–1989

Socialist Republic emblem

Under Ceaușescu the emblem was finalized with the inscription "Republica Socialistă România". This is the flag protesters would later mutilate in 1989.

1952–1965

People's Republic (with star)

A red five-pointed star was added atop the emblem during the high-Stalinist period, the arms bordered by a ribbon in the national colors.

1948–1952

People's Republic (first emblem)

The new communist republic added a coat of arms with a rising sun, oil derrick and wheat to the tricolor's center.

1867–1948

Kingdom of Romania

The plain blue-yellow-red vertical tricolor served the Romanian Old Kingdom and interwar monarchy. The colors trace back to the revolutions of 1848.

Related historical states

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

1570–1711

Principality of Transylvania

A largely autonomous Ottoman vassal principality and Protestant stronghold; its blue-and-gold flag joined the symbols of its Hungarian, Székely, and Saxon 'nations'.

1881–1947

Kingdom of Romania

The blue-yellow-red tricolor of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen kings, who doubled the country's size after World War I before the communists forced King Michael to abdicate.

1330–1859

Principality of Wallachia

A Danubian principality long under Ottoman suzerainty, ruled by voivodes including Vlad the Impaler; it united with Moldavia in 1859 to form modern Romania.

1346–1859

Principality of Moldavia

The eastern Romanian principality of Stephen the Great, who held off the Ottomans for decades; its union with Wallachia created the United Principalities of Romania.