What does the white stripe on Pakistan's flag represent?
It represents the country's religious minorities.
Flag of Pakistan
Pakistan’s flag was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 11 August 1947. Official instructions set its 3:2 proportions, the width of the white hoist stripe and the geometry of the crescent and star.
Current flag
Flag emoji 🇵🇰
Pakistan
Flag facts
Information about the flag’s design, colours and proportions.
- Proportion
- 2:3 height: width
Flag design
The flag has 2 vertical bands from hoist to fly: white · green.
- Layout
- Vertical bands
- Number of bands
- 2
- Details
- Unequal-width bands
- Symbols
- Crescent – In the field and Star – In the field
- Colours
- Green and white
What does the flag of Pakistan mean?
Pakistan's dark-green field bears a white crescent for progress and star for light and knowledge, beside a white minority stripe.
Approved by the Constituent Assembly
Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly approved the national flag on 11 August 1947, according to the Cabinet Division’s record of the resolution. The approved design paired a dark green field with a white stripe at the mast and a crescent and star.
The resolution described the flag of the Federation of Pakistan before independence. The Cabinet Division’s later instructions continue to identify that Assembly-approved design as the standard national flag.
A 3:2 flag with a white stripe at the mast
The official instructions set the flag’s length-to-width ratio at 3:2. The white vertical section occupies one-quarter of the flag at the mast, while the remaining three-quarters is dark green.
The crescent and five-pointed heraldic star are white and sit within the green portion. This gives the flag a clear visual balance between the hoist-side stripe and the larger field.
How the crescent and star are positioned
The instructions specify a geometric method for placing the crescent and star within the green field. It uses a diagonal running from the upper right to the lower left of that section as a reference for their dimensions and placement.
The star is a five-pointed heraldic star, and the crescent is formed by two arcs. These construction details distinguish the official design from a loosely drawn crescent-and-star motif.
Frequently asked questions
When was Pakistan’s flag approved?
The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan approved the national flag on 11 August 1947, three days before independence.
What are the proportions of Pakistan’s flag?
The official instructions give a length-to-width ratio of 3:2, equivalent to a width-to-height ratio of 2:3.
How wide is the white stripe on Pakistan’s flag?
The white stripe next to the mast occupies one-quarter of the flag; the dark green section makes up the other three-quarters.
How is the crescent and star laid out?
The official instructions define their dimensions and placement geometrically within the green field, using its diagonal as a reference.
Sources
Country facts
- Type
- Country
- Name
- Pakistan
- Continent
- Asia
- Capital
- Islamabad
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
- PK
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- PAK
- ISO 3166-1 numeric
- 586
- Top-level domain
- .pk
- Area
- 803,940 km²
- Population
- 255,219,554 (2025)
- Currency
- PKR
- Calling code
- +92
Flags with a similar layout
These flags come from the same region and share one or more design characteristics.
Historical flags: Pakistan (1526–)
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.
