Suriname’s national flag has green, white, red, white and green horizontal bands and an upright yellow star. [1] It entered official use on 25 November 1975, at independence. [3]
Specification
The government’s published description specifies a rectangular field with five bands and one five-pointed star. [1] The education ministry’s construction text gives these proportions. [2]
Legal description and evidence limits
Flags of the World reproduces a translation of an appendix attributed to Government Gazette No. 160 of 24 November 1975, but calls its instrument a decree dated 25 November. That chronology cannot establish a separate enactment or proclamation day without the original. This record follows the matching government-published specification and distinguishes it from direct inspection of legislation. [4] [1]
Colors
The government describes green as nine parts chromate green to one white; bright red as four parts vermilion to six carmine; and yellow as twelve parts chromate yellow to one white. These are published mixture descriptions, not calibrated screen conversions. [1]
The fills below are read from this specimen. They differ from the digital approximations reproduced on Commons (#377E3F, #B40A2D and #ECC81D). No set is treated here as a verified textile standard; no Pantone or RAL equivalence is inferred. [6]
#007A33 / specimen screen value#FFFFFF / specimen screen value#C8102E / specimen screen value#FFCD00 / specimen screen valueConstruction notes
The star’s circle center and upper tip lie on the flag’s vertical midline. Its circumradius equals a green band’s height. The gap above the top tip equals the gap below the two lowest tips. Thus the visible star is vertically centered; its circumcenter lies slightly below the field center. [2]
The inspected SVG uses 0 0 900 600. Overlapping rectangles leave bands of 120, 60, 240, 60 and 120 units. The star’s outer vertices are (450, 191.459), (520.534, 408.541), (335.873, 274.377), (564.127, 274.377) and (379.466, 408.541), traversed as a pentagram. Default nonzero filling produces a solid star. Both vertical clearances within the red band are 11.459 units. The inferred circumradius is approximately 120 units; rounded coordinates match the published construction. [6]
The regular pentagram is the reference artwork’s construction of the five-pointed device. These coordinate calculations audit the SVG; they do not add legal dimensions or manufacturing tolerances.
Symbols and usage
The government associates green with fertility and hope, white with justice and freedom, red with renewal and active progress, the star with national unity, and yellow with sacrifice and a golden future. It documents use on official buildings and occasions. [1]
A government report of a school flag demonstration on 5 January 2026 confirms continued national use. [5] The national flag is also listed for civil, state and military use on land and at sea in the Album des pavillons summary reported by Flags of the World. [4]
Historical record
The government’s language-teaching book explicitly dates official use to 25 November 1975 and calls it the flag of the Republic of Suriname. [3] The government communication service confirms that the current flag replaced the preceding flag that day. That earlier design is a separate historical flag, not an alternative current specimen. [7]
Flags of the World relays attribution to Jacques Herman Pinas from a local historical account. This is a reported attribution, not a designer credit established here from a signed design or original legislative file. [4]
Source trail
- Government of Suriname: Suriname, “Surinaamse Vlag” ↗ — current official description, mixture formulas, dimensions, symbolism and official usage.
- Ministry of Education: Sociale Wereldoriëntatie, year 10, version 1 ↗ — printed pages 18–19 (PDF pages 18–19), construction text. Text consulted.
- Ministry of Education: Vooruit met taal A, year 8, teachers’ book ↗ — listening text 2.7a, official designation and first-use date.
- Flags of the World: Suriname ↗ — translated legal appendix, Album usage, construction and reported design attribution. Original gazette not independently inspected; instrument-date discrepancy retained as unresolved.
- Government: school flag demonstration, 5 January 2026 ↗ — continuing national use.
- Retrieved SVG: country-flags ↗; Commons rights, contributors and differing digital colors ↗; local asset register →.
- Government communication service: Eerbied voor Surinaamse vlag en volkslied, 20 November 2021 ↗ — replacement of the preceding flag on 25 November 1975.
Sources checked 15 September 2026. Related records: Guyana and Ghana. Browse national flags or the Flag Index.