Benin’s flag—green vertical at the hoist with yellow over red at the fly—was adopted 16 November 1959 ahead of independence (1 August 1960). Green signifies hope and revival; yellow wealth and the northern savannas; red courage and sacrifice. Replaced in 1975 by a green field with a red star during the Marxist period, the original design was restored on 1 August 1990 with the return to multiparty democracy. Proportions are typically 2:3; statutes and guidance regulate colours, construction, and protocol for display on public buildings, missions, and national holidays.
Benin’s flag tells a compact story of decolonisation, ideological experiment, and democratic restoration. Adopted on 16 November 1959 in the closing months of Dahomey’s autonomy and retained at independence on 1 August 1960, the banner sets a green vertical band at the hoist with yellow over red at the fly (ratio 2:3). The palette belongs to the pan‑African family, but the composition—colour concentrated at the hoist and fly—gives the flag a distinctive balance among West African designs. Readings of the colours are now conventional: green for hope and renewal; yellow for the savannas and the country’s wealth; red for courage and the blood shed for freedom.
In 1975, during Marxist‑Leninist reforms, the state replaced the tricolour with a plain green field bearing a red star in the canton as the emblem of the People’s Republic of Benin. Fifteen years later, as political liberalisation gathered force, the 1959 flag was restored on 1 August 1990, signalling a return to constitutional pluralism and to the thread of national memory that pre‑dated the revolutionary period. Law standardises a 2:3 ratio, band widths, and colour references; protocol mandates respectful handling, half‑masting by decree, illumination when flown at night, and dignified retirement. Misuse and defacement are prohibited.
In public life the tricolour appears on ministries, schools, and diplomatic missions; it centres Independence Day ceremonies and sports delegations; and it identifies the republic in regional bodies. The simple geometry travels well across fabrics and digital assets, ensuring that the greens and reds remain saturated and the yellow legible. As a result the restored flag has become both a practical sign and a civic syllabus, reminding citizens that the state’s present rests on a longer story—independence, a period of ideological re‑drawing, and a deliberate reaffirmation of democratic norms—rendered in three fields kept precise by statute and ritual.