When was Costa Rica’s flag first solemnly raised?
The Ministry of Public Education records the flag’s first solemn raising in San José on 12 November 1848.
Flag of Costa Rica
The flag has 5 horizontal bands from top to bottom: blue · white · red · white · blue.
Current flag
Flag emoji 🇨🇷
Costa Rica
Flag facts
- Adopted
- 1848
Flag design
The flag has 5 horizontal bands from top to bottom: blue · white · red · white · blue.
- Layout
- Horizontal bands
- Number of bands
- 5
- Details
- Unequal-width bands
- Symbols
- Coat of arms – Hoist side
- Colours
- Blue, white, and red
A national day commemorates the first raising
Costa Rica observes National Flag Day on 12 November. In 1949, the Founding Junta of the Second Republic established the observance in public offices and schools.
Frequently asked questions
Country facts
- Type
- Country
- Name
- Costa Rica
- Continent
- North and Central America
- Capital
- San Jose
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
- CR
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- CRI
- ISO 3166-1 numeric
- 188
- Top-level domain
- .cr
- Area
- 51,100 km²
- Population
- 5,152,950 (2025)
- Currency
- CRC
- Calling code
- +506
Flags with a similar layout
These flags come from the same region and share one or more design characteristics.
Historical flags: Costa Rica (1506–)
Images are ordered by the years listed in the collection. A listed year may not be the flag’s official adoption year.
About historical flags
Vexilla's historical flag collection includes former flags associated with present-day countries and territories, as well as flags of states, empires, and other authorities that historically governed them.
A flag's inclusion in a country's historical collection does not necessarily mean that the country was independent at the time or that the flag was its own national flag.
The years shown are based on historical records in the dataset and do not always indicate the date of official adoption. The collection is not exhaustive, and historical usage, territorial coverage, and interpretations may vary.
