Flag of Kuwait

What the flag of Kuwait looks like

The flag of Kuwait is made of three horizontal bands of equal height: green on top, white in the middle and red at the bottom. A black trapezoid sits at the hoist (the side nearest the flagpole). Its long side runs along the full height of the flag at the hoist, and its short side is as tall as the white band, so the sloping edges run from the corners of the flag to the corners of the white band. The proportions are 1:2.

The flag carries no emblem or writing, and it is the only national flag featuring an acute trapezium. Because it uses the same four colors as several other Arab flags, it is identified mainly by the shape of the black trapezoid. A Kuwait flag emoji and a downloadable version are available on this site.

Kuwait flag meaning and symbolism

The colors are explained by a poem by Safi al-Din al-Hilli: white are our deeds, black our battles, green our lands, and red our swords. Read that way, white stands for deeds, black for battles, green for the land and red for swords.

The same four colors are known as the Pan-Arab colors. They are used, in different arrangements, by Jordan, Palestine, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and others. The black trapezoid is the feature that sets the Kuwaiti design apart.

History of the Kuwait flag

Kuwait was ruled by the Al-Sabah family from the 18th century and was a British protectorate from 1899 until 1961. Before 1961 the flag of Kuwait was red and white, with a red field and white words or charges. Around 1914 Kuwait adopted a red flag with the word Kuwait in Arabic script; the Shahada was added in 1921 and a stylized falcon's claw in 1940.

The current flag was adopted on 7 September 1961 and officially hoisted on 24 November 1961, the year Kuwait became fully independent (19 June 1961). It replaced the red flags of the earlier era with the Pan-Arab colors, each of which is also significant in its own right.

Kuwait marks National Day on 25 February and Liberation Day on 26 February, the latter recalling the end of the Iraqi occupation of 1990-91. The flag is flown widely on both days.

Kuwait flag compared with similar flags

Several flags in the region share some of the Kuwaiti colors. The flag of the United Arab Emirates has a vertical red bar at the hoist instead of a black trapezoid and has green, white and black bands. The flag of Palestine has black, white and green bands with a red triangle. The flag of Jordan has black, white and green bands with a red triangle, plus a white seven-pointed star. Kuwait is the only one of these with a black trapezoid.