Flag of Tuvalu
Oceania
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Funafuti
- Flag adopted
- 1997
- Population
- 10,643
- Area
- 26 km²
- Languages
- English, Tuvaluan
- Currency
- Australian dollar ($) — AUD, Tuvaluan dollar ($) — TVD
- Demonym
- Tuvaluan
- Government
- parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy
- Subregion
- Polynesia
- Driving side
- Left
- Timezones
- UTC+12:00
- Independence
- 1978
Religions
- Protestant 92.7%
- Other 3.9%
- Baha'i 1.5%
- Jehovah's Witness 1.5%
- None 0.4%
About This Flag
The flag of Tuvalu features a light blue field with the Union Jack in the upper-left canton and nine yellow five-pointed stars on the outer (fly) half of the flag, arranged in a pattern that represents the geographic layout of Tuvalu's nine islands. The light blue represents the Pacific Ocean that surrounds the scattered atolls.
The nine stars correspond to the nine inhabited islands: Funafuti, Nanumea, Nanumanga, Niutao, Nui, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae, Vaitupu, and Niulakita. The stars' arrangement on the flag roughly mirrors the actual geographic positions of the islands.
The current design was readopted on April 11, 1997, after a brief period (1995-1997) when a different flag without the Union Jack was used.
What the colors & design mean
Light blue represents the Pacific Ocean. The Union Jack reflects historical ties to Britain. The nine yellow stars represent Tuvalu's nine inhabited islands, arranged to approximate their actual geographic positions.
Pattern: Canton Design
Fun Facts
- Tuvalu briefly replaced its flag with a non-Union Jack design from 1995 to 1997, but public sentiment led to the restoration of the original flag — one of the few countries to change its flag and then change it back.
- Tuvalu is the fourth-smallest country in the world by area and one of the least visited, with only about 2,000 tourists per year.
- Tuvalu earns significant revenue from licensing its '.tv' internet country code domain to media and entertainment companies worldwide.
- With a maximum elevation of about 4.6 meters above sea level, Tuvalu is one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change and rising sea levels.
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These flags share similar colors and patterns:
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