Benin
What the source says
Referenced, awaiting primary-source reviewAdopted in 1959 and re-adopted on August 1, 1990. Green [is] the hope of a new democracy; red the courage of the ancestors; yellow the treasures of the nation (stated in the national anthem). The original flag from 1959 was reinstated on August 1, 1990 [and] the re-establishment of multi-party democracy.
Referenced, not verified: a secondary work states this, and the document that constitutes the flag has not been read for this entry. What the marks mean.
Colors and meaning
Symbolism and history(r1)
A green vertical band at the hoist with yellow over red horizontal bands, reinstated on 1 August 1990 after the collapse of the Marxist People's Republic of Benin and the return to multi-party democracy.
Most similar flags
The 6 closest of the 194 other national flags, ranked by a similarity index computed from the flag images themselves. The number is that index, 0–100 — not a claim that the two flags are “X% identical”.
Senegal93the same vertical band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
Mali92the same vertical band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
Guinea86the same vertical band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
Portugal78the same vertical band layout; the same colours in similar amounts.
Republic of the Congo75the same vertical band layout; the same colours in similar amounts.
Cameroon74the same vertical band layout; the same colours in similar amounts.
Computed at build time: each flag is rasterised to 64x48, and the score is 0.55 × colour overlap + 0.45 × structure. A different weighting would rank these differently. How the index works.
References — not verification
(r1) Referenced to Flag of Benin (Wikipedia (English)) on 2026-07-17. States the adoption year, which colors the flag has, what the colors mean and the symbolism and history on this page. The passage it states them in is quoted at the top of this entry.
Further reading: Flag of Benin on Wikipedia
