Ethiopia
What the source says
Referenced, awaiting primary-source reviewCurrent version adopted 31 October 1996. Green represents development; yellow represents hope; red represents the blood in defense of Ethiopia. The blue disc signifies peace; the yellow star testifies to Ethiopia's bright future, [its] yellow rays are equidistant and are said to represent the equality of all Ethiopians. Upon gaining independence, several newly-established countries in Africa adopted these three colors in homage to Ethiopia's resistance against foreign occupation.
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)
Ethiopia's green-yellow-red horizontal tricolor is the colour scheme that several newly independent African countries adopted in homage to Ethiopia's resistance to foreign occupation; a blue disc with a radiating yellow star, added in 1996, signifies peace and, in its equidistant rays, the equality of all Ethiopians.
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”.
- Lithuania87
the same horizontal band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
- Ghana86
the same horizontal band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
- Togo84
the same horizontal band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
- Bolivia80
the same horizontal band layout; near-identical colour proportions.
- Mozambique79
the same horizontal band layout; the same colours in similar amounts.
- Burkina Faso78
the same horizontal 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 Ethiopia (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 Ethiopia on Wikipedia