North Macedonia’s national flag is red with a golden-yellow sun and eight rays widening toward the edges. It is twice as long as it is high. The present design was adopted on 5 October 1995. Macedonian Heraldic Society ↗
Specification
Article 2 of the 1995 flag law prescribes the colors, eight rays in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions, a centered sun, and a disc diameter equal to one seventh of the fly. Article 3 makes the accompanying drawing part of the law. The law was enacted under the country’s then official name, Republic of Macedonia. Articles 2–3, reproduced and translated ↗
Colors and symbol
The statutory colors are red and golden yellow. The sun is the central device; the law’s description does not assign separate meanings to individual rays or colors. No such meanings are inferred here.
Specimen screen colors
#D82126 / SVG fill#F8E92E / SVG fillThese values belong to the retrieved vector. Commons’ current page lists a different palette and labels its Pantone references approximate; FOTW also reports approximate reference colors. None establishes a statutory physical color target. Screen fills must not replace a textile specification.
Construction notes
The specimen’s viewBox is −140 −70 280 140. Its yellow disc has radius 20 at (0,0): diameter 40 equals 280/7 exactly. A red circle of radius 25 separates the disc from the rays. There are two horizontal, two vertical and four diagonal rays; their edge widths are 28 units for the axial rays and 42 along the top or bottom for the diagonal rays.
These detailed coordinates describe the SVG, not additional statutory dimensions. They follow the arrangement in Jovan Jonovski’s 2017 construction sheet, derived from the gazette illustration. The diagonal apex coordinates (±12.86, ±7.72) are rounded. The vertical triangles have apices at (0,−15) and (0,15); simply rotating one ray eight times would not reproduce this drawing.
FOTW’s earlier Heimer reconstruction uses a different auxiliary construction for the vertical rays. Jonovski also notes differences between the law’s wording and its illustration. The original gazette scan could not be retrieved for this review: exact ray tolerances and full equivalence to the original annex remain unresolved. The specimen preserves the explicit statutory ratio, center and disc size and uses the later published reconstruction for the rays. Asset inspection →
Historical record
The Assembly’s 27th-session transcript records passage of the flag law on 5 October 1995, with 110 votes in favor, one against and four abstentions. The official gazette’s annual register identifies the law as item 1200, issue 47, page 1205. Assembly transcript, printed page 16 ↗ · Gazette annual register ↗
FOTW records proclamation on 5 October and publication on 6 October 1995; Article 5 takes effect on publication. Adoption and commencement therefore fall on different days. Jonovski dates the first hoisting at Parliament to 7 October and at the United Nations to 22 October; these are ceremonial milestones.
Design authorship requires qualification. Jonovski’s 2022 study credits Miroslav Grchev’s design work and Kostadin Tanchev-Dinkata’s changes to the final arrangement. This record does not attribute every detail of the adopted artwork to a single designer. Jonovski: The State Flag ↗
Use
FOTW classifies the design for civil, state and military use on land. Jonovski documents public flag displays and ceremonial changes at Parliament, the Government and the presidential residence. These examples describe use; this record is not a complete display-protocol or manufacturing manual.
Source trail
Reviewed 14 September 2026. The original gazette endpoint was unavailable; statutory wording was checked through the Heraldic Society and FOTW transcriptions, alongside the Assembly’s primary proceedings and the indexed gazette register.
- Assembly, 27th session, 5 October 1995 ↗ — adoption vote; PDF page 18.
- Official Gazette: 1995 chronological register ↗ — item 1200, 47/1205. Original issue linked by the Heraldic Society ↗ — unavailable during review.
- Macedonian Heraldic Society: national flag ↗ — Articles 2–3 and adoption; Zname.mk ↗ — current Macedonian designation; an independent reference project.
- Jonovski, 2017 construction sheet ↗ — graphical reconstruction, not a separately enacted standard.
- Jonovski, 2022: The State Flag ↗ — design attribution, illustration limits, hoistings and public use.
- Flags of the World: North Macedonia ↗ — proclamation, commencement, use classification and earlier reconstruction.
- Local asset register → — direct SVG source, rights, credits, measurements and checksum.