Country profile: North Macedonia

After independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia adopted in 1992 a red flag bearing the Vergina Sun, a symbol discovered in the ancient Macedonian royal tombs at Vergina, in Greece.

Greece, which regards the symbol as part of its heritage, imposed an economic blockade on the country. On 5 October 1995, Parliament adopted a new flag: a stylised yellow sun whose eight rays broaden out to the edges of a red field.

After the Prespa Agreement with Greece in 2018, the country took the name North Macedonia in 2019. The 1995 flag was kept.

The Macedonian flag has a simple meaning:

• Yellow sun: the ‘new sun of liberty’ celebrated in the national anthem, Today over Macedonia.
• Red: the traditional colour of the region's flags and banners.

The eight rays, which broaden towards the edges, clearly distinguish this sun from the Vergina Sun, with its sixteen thin rays.

The 1992 flag with the Vergina Sun was used for only three years: it was at the heart of one of the most heated diplomatic disputes in the Balkans in the 1990s.

The Vergina Sun now appears on the unofficial flag of the Greek region of Macedonia.

The flag of North Macedonia is one of the few national flags made up solely of red and yellow, like those of Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan.