Oceania

Flag of Vanuatu

Vanuatu is an archipelago of 80 islands in the southwestern Pacific, gained independence from joint British-French colonial administration in 1980. It is notable for its extraordinary linguistic diversity — over 100 distinct local languages are spoken by a population of fewer than 300,000, giving it the world's highest concentration of languages per capita. Vanuatu is home to some of the world's most accessible active volcanoes, including Mount Yasur on Tanna island, where visitors can walk to the crater rim.

CapitalPort Vila
RegionOceania
Current flag since1980
Main coloursRed, Green, Black, Yellow
Populationabout 330,000
Areaabout 12,000 km²
GeographyIsland nation
Flags in history2

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Vanuatu means

Red stands for blood and the wild boar, green for the richness of the islands, and black for the Melanesian people. The yellow Y shape represents the light of the gospel spreading through the archipelago. The emblem is a boar's tusk, a symbol of prosperity, around two crossed namele leaves, a symbol of peace. The flag was adopted at independence in 1980.

More about the flag

Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, was governed jointly by Britain and France as a condominium until independence on 30 July 1980. The yellow Y shape is also said to echo the layout of the islands in the Pacific. Vanuatu has more than 100 local languages and three official ones, Bislama, English and French. The motto on its coat of arms, Long God yumi stanap, means In God we stand.

How to recognise it

Horizontal red-over-green split by a black triangle at the hoist with a yellow boar's tusk emblem.

Did you know?

Vanuatu consistently ranks as one of the world's happiest countries despite being one of the least developed.

Flag history of Vanuatu

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

1980–present

Flag of Vanuatu

Adopted at independence in 1980 in the colors of the Vanua'aku Pati, with a black "Y" shape, a boar's tusk, and namele fern leaves. One flag, never changed.

1953–1980

British New Hebrides

Under the unusual Anglo-French Condominium, Britain and France each flew their own emblems; this is the British New Hebrides badge flag used until independence.

Related historical states

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

1906–1980

New Hebrides Condominium

The Anglo-French condominium that jointly governed the islands of modern Vanuatu from 1906 until independence in 1980 — famously run by two parallel colonial administrations at once.