Nauru's white star is placed below the yellow stripe. More precisely, the large twelve-pointed star appears directly below the stripe on the hoist side, the side nearest the flagpole.
Nauru's flag was adopted on 31 January 1968, the day the island became independent. Its thin yellow horizontal stripe represents the Equator, while the star marks Nauru's position just south of it—about one degree south of the Equator.
The star's twelve points represent Nauru's twelve original tribes. Its white color is also associated with phosphate, a resource that shaped the island's economy and landscape. The blue field represents the surrounding Pacific Ocean.
A frequent mistake is to describe the star as being on the stripe or beside it. It is separated from the stripe and positioned beneath it, toward the hoist. The placement is therefore geographic symbolism, not merely a decorative choice.