Burundi’s flag (adopted 28 June 1967; proportions 3:5) features a white saltire dividing red (hoist and fly) and green (top and bottom) panels, with a central white disk bearing three red six‑pointed stars edged green. Red recalls struggle and sacrifice; green hope; white peace. The three stars represent the national motto—Unité, Travail, Progrès (Unity, Work, Progress)—and the three major communities. Statutes specify geometry, colours, and protocols for public display and half‑masting.
Burundi’s national flag expresses unity and aspiration through a precise heraldic composition. A white saltire divides the field into four panels: red at the hoist and fly, green above and below. At the centre sits a white disk charged with three six‑pointed red stars edged in green, arranged 2–1.
Adoption
followed constitutional changes in the mid‑1960s; the present drawing—fixed by law on 28 June 1967—standardised the stars, saltire widths, and colours after early post‑independence variants. Symbolism is multilayered: red for the blood shed in the independence struggle and for courage; green for hope and agricultural renewal; white for peace. The three stars simultaneously reference the national motto Unité, Travail, Progrès and the country’s three principal communities, gathered within one disc.
Legal instruments prescribe a 3:5 ratio, the relative widths of the saltire arms, the diameter of the central disk, star size and edging, and colour references to ensure consistent manufacture. Protocol covers respectful handling, order of precedence when flown with foreign flags, half‑masting by decree, illumination at night, and dignified retirement of worn flags. Desecration and improper commercial use are restricted.
The flag is omnipresent in public life—on ministries, schools, and missions abroad—and features centrally in national days where its meanings are taught in civic education. The design’s clarity and the balanced geometry of saltire and disk have ensured its longevity across constitutional chapters.