Flag of Bolivia

What the flag of Bolivia looks like

The flag of Bolivia has three horizontal stripes of equal height: red at the top, yellow in the middle and green at the bottom. The proportions, set by a decree in 2004, are 15:22 (height to length), close to 2:3.

There are two official versions. The civil flag, used by the public, is the plain tricolor. The state flag, used by the government and on official buildings, has the coat of arms in the center of the yellow stripe.

The coat of arms is an oval. It shows the Cerro Rico of Potosí and a smaller hill with a sun rising behind them, a llama, a palm and a sheaf of wheat. Ten golden stars fill the lower part of the oval. On each side are national flags, a cannon, rifles, an axe and a Phrygian liberty cap, and laurel and olive branches form a wreath. An Andean condor rises above the shield.

See how the colors look in the Bolivia flag emoji or download an image from the download page.

Bolivia flag meaning and symbolism

The colors were first described in a decree of 1888, under President Gregorio Pacheco. Red represents the blood shed by the nation's heroes for the birth and preservation of the Republic, yellow represents the country's wealth and resources, and green represents the richness of its natural areas as well as hope.

In the coat of arms, the Cerro Rico of Potosí is the famous silver mountain that gave the country much of its wealth, and the llama, palm and wheat refer to the country's animals and plants. The ten stars (the tenth was added in 1961) are commonly explained as the nine departments of Bolivia plus the coastal department of Litoral, which was lost in the War of the Pacific (1879-84).

History of the Bolivian flag

Bolivia declared independence from Spain in 1825 and was named after Simón Bolívar. The flag used before the present one was different, and the current red-yellow-green design came only in the middle of the 19th century.

The present flag of red, yellow and green stripes was officially adopted on 31 October 1851, under President Manuel Isidoro Belzu. The coat of arms has been redrawn a number of times, most recently in 2004, and a 2004 decree set the exact colors and proportions and split the flag into the civil and state versions.

In 2009, a new constitution recognized the Wiphala as a national symbol next to the tricolor, which gave the country two official flags. This reflects the country's large Indigenous population, and the 2009 constitution describes Bolivia as a plurinational state.

The Wiphala and why Bolivia has two flags

The Wiphala is a square flag made of a grid of 49 small squares in seven colors, laid out in diagonal rows. It is used as an emblem by the Indigenous peoples of the Andes, and the one recognized in Bolivia is the Qullasuyu Wiphala. It is not a replacement for the red, yellow and green flag. At official events it is flown next to the tricolor, on its left.

The Wiphala has also been a source of political debate. In the political crisis of November 2019, police cut Wiphalas from their uniforms and protesters burned some. The flag's association with the governing party made it politically divisive, while supporters see it as a sign of Indigenous inclusion.