Somalia’s flag is a light-blue field bearing a single white five-pointed star at its center. The design was adopted on October 12, 1954, and is commonly called the Star of Unity.
The blue background is associated with the United Nations, which administered the former Italian Somaliland after World War II. The star’s five points traditionally represent the main regions where Somali people historically lived: Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia’s Somali Region, and Kenya’s former North Eastern Province.
A common mix-up is with the flags of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, which also use blue and prominent stars. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a yellow triangular shape and a row of white stars, while Kosovo displays a gold map of its territory beneath six white stars. Cyprus is different again: its flag shows a copper-colored map of the island above olive branches.
Somalia’s flag is also used as a broader ethnic symbol, although Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991, restricts its public display. The centered star remains one of the world’s most recognizable national flag emblems.