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Thong dwang deaen (the white moon flag) Sam si (tricolour) | |
Use | National flag and ensign ![]() ![]() |
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Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | 12 October 1945; 2 December 1975 (re-adopted) |
Design | A horizontal triband of red, blue (double height) and red; charged with a white circle in the centre (the diameter of white circle is four-fifths the height of blue band) |
Designed by | Maha Sila Viravong |
The flag of Laos (Lao: ທຸງຊາດລາວ; thungsad Lāo) consists of three horizontal stripes, with the middle stripe in blue being twice the height of the top and bottom red stripes. In the middle is a white disc, the diameter of the disc is 4⁄5 the height of the blue stripe. The flag ratio is 2:3.
The flag was first adopted in 1945 under the short-lived Lao Issara government of 1945–46, then by the Pathet Lao. It is one of the two flags of a country currently governed by a communist party (the other being Cuba) that currently does not use any communist symbolism. The current flag was adopted on December 2, 1975, when it became a socialist state. The royal flag before 1975 remains in use by a number of Laotian diaspora.