Flag of Burkina Faso

What the flag looks like

Two horizontal bands, red over green, with a yellow five-pointed star in the center.

What it means

Red recalls the revolution and the struggle for liberation, green the country's agricultural wealth and hope, and the yellow star the guiding light of the revolution.

How to remember it

Burkina Faso is a red sky over green fields with one yellow star in the middle, as if Vietnam's flag were standing on a lawn.

Fun facts

• The flag was introduced in 1984, when Thomas Sankara renamed Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, roughly 'land of upright people'.
• It replaced a black-white-red tricolor whose stripes stood for the Black, White and Red Volta rivers.

Burkina Faso at a glance

Capital

Ouagadougou

Region

Western Africa

Population

24 million

Area

272,967 km²

Languages

French

Currency

West African CFA franc (FCFA)

Flag adopted

1984