Country profile: Belgium

Black, yellow and red are the colours of the coat of arms of the former Duchy of Brabant: a golden lion on a black field, with red claws and tongue. They already appeared on the cockades of the Brabant Revolution of 1789-1790, which rose against Austrian rule.

During the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the insurgents in Brussels took up these colours again. The first flags, hastily sewn in August 1830, had horizontal stripes. By a decree of 23 January 1831, the Provisional Government introduced vertical stripes, in the manner of the French flag, partly to avoid any confusion with the horizontal flag of the Netherlands. The current order, with black at the hoist, only became established later.

The Constitution of 7 February 1831 enshrined these colours as those of the Belgian nation. The flag has not changed since: it came through both world wars and accompanied Belgium's transformation into a federal state, which began in 1970.

The Belgian flag has no official symbolism attached to each colour: above all, it reproduces the heraldry of Brabant, the historic heart of the country, where Brussels lies.

• Black: the field of the Brabant shield.
• Yellow: the golden lion that appears on it.
• Red: the lion's claws and tongue.

The choice of vertical stripes, in the manner of the French flag, reflects the influence of the liberal ideas of 1830, while marking the break with the Kingdom of the Netherlands, from which Belgium separated that year.

The official proportions of the Belgian flag are 13 by 15, which makes it almost square. In practice, most flags flown in Belgium follow the more elongated 2:3 format, including on many public buildings.

The decree of January 1831 placed red at the hoist, and the Constitution still lists the colours in the order ‘red, yellow and black’. Usage has nevertheless established the opposite order, which has led some historians to say that the Belgian flag flies ‘upside down’.

The Belgian flag is often confused with that of Germany, which uses very similar shades. The two flags are nonetheless easy to tell apart: vertical stripes and bright yellow for Belgium, horizontal stripes and gold in the order black, red, gold for Germany.