This gallery displays flags that feature Pan-African colors. In addition to the standard red-gold-green tricolor scheme (initiated by the Flag of Ghana and derived from the Flag of Ethiopia) and the standard red-black-green tricolor scheme (derived from the UNIA Pan-African Flag), it is proposed that a green-gold-black tricolor scheme has been established (one derived from the Flag of the African National Congress). Furthermore, it is proposed that an emergent fourth blue-gold-green tricolor scheme may exist, one expressive not of Pan-Africanism as a political project, but of a common, Pan-African, sensibility.

The criterion for selecting flags is that they represent African or majority African diaspora nations or movements (Guyana is the sole exception). The method of selection relies on context and judgement to establish a condition of plausibility regarding the meaning of resemblance. Groupings are presented for consideration and evaluation, while recognizing that in certain cases, common color schemes may derive from different inspirations.

Flags are listed by date of initial adoption.

Original Inspiration[edit]

Flag of the Ethiopian Empire
(plain tricolor variant)
UNIA Pan-African Flag
Flag of the African National Congress

Red, Gold, Green[edit]

Flag of the Republic of Ghana
(6 March 1957 - present)
Former (first) flag of Cameroon
(29 October 1957 - 01 October 1961)
Flag of Guinea
(10 November 1958 - present)
Flag of the former Mali Federation
(4 April 1959 - 20 August 1960)
and Former flag of Mali
(22 September 1960 - 1 March 1961)
Flag of the Republic of the Congo
(15 September 1959 - 2 January 1970; re-adopted 9 June 1991 - present)
Flag of Benin
(16 November 1959 - 1 December 1975; re-adopted 1 August 1990 - present)
Flag of Togo
(27 April 1960 - present)
Flag of Senegal
(20 August 1960 - present)
*Flag of Mali
(1 March 1961 - present)
Former (first) flag of Rwanda
(25 September 1961 – 24 October 2001)
*Former (second) flag of Cameroon
(01 October 1961 - 20 May 1975)
Flag of the former Zaire
(19 November 1971 - 1997)
Flag of Guinea-Bissau
(24 September 1973 - present)
Flag of Grenada
(7 February 1974 - present)
**Flag of Cameroon
(20 May 1975 - present)
Former (first) flag of Cape Verde
(5 July 1975 – 25 September 1992)
Flag of São Tomé and Príncipe
(12 July 1975 - present)
Flag of Burkina Faso
(August 4, 1984 - present)

* a redesign of an earlier red, gold, green tricolor

Partial Red, Gold, Green flags[edit]

Flag of the Central African Republic
(1 December 1958 - present)

Multi-national red, gold, green flags[edit]

Flag of the Union of African States
(1958–1961)
Flag of the Union of African States
(1961–1962)

Civic red, gold, green flags[edit]

Afro-Nova Scotian Flag
(15 February 2021 - present)

Subnational red, gold, green flags[edit]

Flag of South Kasai
(1960-1962)
Flag of French Guiana
(29 January 2010 - 2015, locally adopted but unsanctioned by metropole, now unofficial)

Red, Black, Green[edit]

(UNIA) Pan-African Flag
(13 August 1920 - present)
Flag of Kenya
(12 December 1963 - present)
Flag of Malawi
(6 July 1964 - 29 July 2010, re-adopted on 28 May 2012 - present)
*Former flag of Malawi
(29 July 2010 - 28 May 2012)
Flag of the former Biafra
(30 May 1967 - 15 January 1970)
Flag of the Republic of South Sudan
(9 July 2005 - present)

* a redesign of an earlier red, black, green tricolor

Subnational red, black, green flags[edit]

Flag of Mandera County, Kenya
Flag of Martinique
(2 February 2023 - present)

Black, Green, Gold[edit]

Flag of the African National Congress
(~12 April 1925 - present, since 1993 variant defaced with party emblem common)
Flag of the former Tanganyika
(~08 July 1961 - ~26 April 1964)
Flag of Jamaica
(6 August 1962 - present)