Flag of Romania
Europe
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Bucharest
- Flag adopted
- 1989
- Population
- 19,036,031
- Area
- 238,391 km²
- Languages
- Romanian
- Currency
- Romanian leu (lei) — RON
- Demonym
- Romanian
- Government
- semi-presidential republic
- Subregion
- Southeast Europe
- Driving side
- Right
- Timezones
- UTC+02:00
- Independence
- 1877
Religions
- Romanian Orthodox 85.3%
- Other 4.7%
- Roman Catholic 4.5%
- Reformed 3%
- Pentecostal 2.5%
About This Flag
The flag of Romania consists of three equal vertical bands of blue on the hoist side, yellow in the center, and red on the fly side. The blue represents liberty, the sky, and the people's aspirations.
Yellow symbolizes justice, the country's mineral wealth, and the grain fields. Red stands for the blood shed for Romanian independence and fraternity among the Romanian people.
The tricolor has its origins in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848 and was first adopted when the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia united in 1859. The current flag, without any coat of arms, was officially adopted on December 27, 1989, after the Romanian Revolution, when the communist emblem was physically cut out of flags during the uprising.
What the colors & design mean
Blue represents liberty and the sky. Yellow symbolizes justice, prosperity, and the wheat fields. Red stands for fraternity and the blood shed in the fight for Romanian independence.
Pattern: Vertical Stripes
Bordering countries (5)
Fun Facts
- During the 1989 Romanian Revolution against the Ceausescu regime, protesters cut the communist coat of arms out of the center of the flag, creating a flag with a hole — an iconic image of the revolution, similar to what Hungarians did in 1956.
- Romania's flag is nearly identical to Chad's — both are blue-yellow-red vertical tricolors with virtually no distinguishable difference, leading Chad to raise the issue at the United Nations in 2004.
- The tricolor was inspired by the French revolutionary flag, and the blue-yellow-red color scheme was chosen during the 1848 Wallachian Revolution as a symbol of democratic aspirations.
- Romania's Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, built under Ceausescu, is the heaviest building in the world and the second-largest administrative building after the Pentagon.
Similar looking flags
These flags share similar colors and patterns:
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