Samoa’s current flag is red with a blue upper hoist quarter bearing five white stars of the Southern Cross. Adopted on 24 February 1949, it continued at independence on 1 January 1962. Its hoist-to-fly ratio is 1:2.
Specification
Section 3 and the Schedule of the Official Flag and National Anthem of Samoa Act 1994 identify the official flag: red, with a blue first quarter and five regular white five-pointed stars. Each has one point upward. The statutory canvas is 288 units wide and 144 high; the blue quarter is therefore 144 × 72.
Colors
The Act names red, blue and white without numerical shades. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s flag sheet supplies these digital values, also used in the inspected SVG:
#CE1126 / RGB 206, 17, 38#002B7F / RGB 0, 43, 127#FFFFFF / RGB 255, 255, 255These are official digital guidance, not numerical color provisions in the Act. Despite a “Patone” heading, the ministry sheet gives no numbered Pantone reference. No binding textile tolerance, RAL reference or physical color sample was verified. Screen colors do not replace physical specifications.
Construction notes
The table uses the Act’s 288 × 144 grid. “Span” means the distance between a ray tip and the tip two rays farther around the star, not its bounding-box height or circumcircle diameter. Coordinates begin at the upper hoist corner.
| Star | Placement | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Axis x=72; top tip y=3 | 16 |
| Hoist-side | Leftmost tip x=42; top tip y=21 | 16 |
| Fly-side | Rightmost tip x=102; top tip y=18 | 15 |
| Bottom | Axis x=72; bottom tips y=69 | 20 |
| Small fifth | Rightmost tip x=88; bottom tips y=46 | 10 |
Specimen inspection
The SVG viewBox is 0 0 2880 1440, ten times the statutory grid, with a 1440 × 720 canton. Five internal copies of one star path use scale factors 160, 160, 150, 100 and 200. Their top-tip translations are (720,30), (500,210), (945,180), (830,364.894) and (720,499.789).
The source rounds the unit star path to three decimals. Its lower tips consequently lie at y=459.994 and y=689.989, rather than exactly 460 and 690. The largest bottom-tip placement discrepancy is 0.0011 statutory unit. Equal ray geometry is likewise decimal-rounded. These are disclosed rendering approximations, not legal tolerances. The artwork retains the statutory arrangement; use the Schedule for exact manufacture, not measurements taken from this screen specimen.
Symbols and use
The ministry identifies the constellation as the Southern Cross, white with purity, red with courage and blue with freedom. This is explanatory government guidance, distinct from the construction schedule. The flag represents Samoa in national and official display. Section 5 of the Act requires people and vehicles in the relevant public area to remain still during raising or lowering.
Historical record
The ministry dates adoption of this five-star design to 24 February 1949 during the trusteeship period and confirms its continuation at independence on 1 January 1962. The 1994 Act’s commencement on 28 July 1994 is a legislative date, not the design’s first adoption. It repealed the Flag of Samoa Act 1973.
This record covers the five-star design only. No original 1949 proclamation instrument or independently verified designer attribution was established in the consulted primary sources.
Source trail
Attorney General: Official Flag and National Anthem of Samoa Act 1994 ↗ — official consolidation as at 31 December 2023; commencement, sections 3, 5 and 8, and dimensioned Schedule.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Flag of Samoa ↗ — adoption, independence continuity, ratio, symbolism and digital color guidance.
Wikimedia Commons: artwork history and public-domain declaration ↗ · Retrieved Commons-derived SVG ↗ · Local provenance, rights and checksum →
