Flag of Latvia

The national flag of Latvia is a triband featuring two wide horizontal stripes of red at the top and bottom, separated by a twice narrower white centre stripe. It was used as the national flag after Latvia became an independent country in 1918. After the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Latvia in 1940, its use was suppressed by the Soviet government. On 27 February 1990, shortly before Latvia regained independence, the government re-adopted the traditional red-white-red flag.

According to Latvian law, the Latvian national flag is carmine red with a white horizontal stripe. (Latvian: tumši sarkana (karmīnsarkans), lit. 'dark red'). The colour on the flag is sometimes referred to as Latvian red. The red colour of the Latvian flag is a particularly dark shade, which is composed of brown and purple. The flag's colour proportions are 2:1:2 (the upper and lower red bands each being twice as wide as the central white band), and the ratio of the height of the flag to its width is fixed at 1:2. On 11 April 1995, the State Heraldic Commission have once chosen Pantone 1807 C for the red colour, this was later replaced by Pantone 201 C on 21 April 2009. On 1 May 2010, the Cabinet of Ministers issued the Procedures for the Application of the Law on the National Flag, which standardized Pantone 19-1629 TPX or 19-1629 TC for red field; an amendment made on 27 November 2018, which came into force 1 January 2019, stating that non-fabric flags, as well as representations produced using other techniques (including digital representations), would use Pantone 201 C, whilst physical flags would continue using 19-1629 TPX/TC.