Flag of Kiribati

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Flag of Kiribati

Use	National flag and ensign
Proportion	1:2
Adopted	12 July 1979; 44 years ago (1979-07-12)
Design	A horizontal bicolour of red and blue with the yellow frigate bird flying over the rising sun with seventeen rays centered on the upper half and three white wavy horizontal stripes on the lower half.
Designed by	Arthur Grimble

The flag of Kiribati (Gilbertese: buraki ni Kiribati) is red in the upper half with a gold frigatebird (Fregata minor, in Gilbertese: te eitei) flying over a gold rising sun (otintaai), and the lower half is blue with three horizontal wavy white stripes to represent the ocean and the three archipelagoes (Gilbert, Phoenix and Line Islands). The 17 rays of the sun represent the 16 Gilbert Islands and Banaba (former Ocean Island).

The yellow frigatebird symbolises command over the sea, freedom, and dance patterns.^[1][2] The blue and white wavy bands represent the Pacific Ocean, which surrounds Kiribati, and the sun refers to Kiribati's position astride the Equator.^[3]

The flag is derived from a badge designed by Sir Arthur Grimble in 1931 for the flag of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands British colony and granted in 1937.