Why is a sisserou parrot shown on Dominica's flag?
The sisserou is Dominica's national bird; the ten surrounding stars refer to the country's parishes.
Flag of Dominica
Dominica's flag has a green field crossed by three bands in yellow, black and white.
Current flag
Flag emoji 🇩🇲
Dominica
Flag facts
- Adopted
- 1978
Flag design
Centred cross.
- Layout
- Cross
- Cross type
- Centred cross
- Symbols
- Animal – Centre and Star – Centre
- Shapes
- Disc – Centre
- Colours
- Green, yellow, black, white, and red
Sources
What does the flag of Dominica mean?
A sisserou parrot, Dominica's national bird, stands within ten stars for the country's parishes on a green field and cross.
Design and official explanations
A red disc at the centre bears the Sisserou parrot, surrounded by ten green stars. The Government identifies the stars with the country's ten parishes, which it describes as having equal status.
The Government also gives meanings to the colours: green for vegetation, yellow for sunshine, agriculture and the Kalinago and Arawak peoples, white for water, black for the soil and African heritage, and red for social justice. These are the government's stated explanations of the flag's symbolism.
Frequently asked questions
What bird appears on Dominica's flag?
The centre shows the Sisserou parrot, Dominica's national bird.
What do the ten stars represent?
They represent Dominica's ten parishes, which the Government describes as having equal status.
How does the Government explain the flag's colours?
It links green with vegetation, yellow with sunshine, agriculture and Indigenous peoples, white with water, black with soil and African heritage, and red with social justice.
Country facts
- Type
- Country
- Name
- Dominica
- Continent
- North and Central America
- Capital
- Roseau
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
- DM
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- DMA
- ISO 3166-1 numeric
- 212
- Top-level domain
- .dm
- Area
- 754 km²
- Population
- 65,871 (2025)
- Currency
- XCD
- Calling code
- ++1-767
Flags with a similar layout
These flags come from the same region and share one or more design characteristics.
Historical flags: Dominica (1663–)
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.