Flag: Chad Emoji
U+1F1F9 U+1F1E9:chad:About Flag: Chad ๐น๐ฉ
Flag: Chad () is part of the Flags group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E2.0. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. On Discord it's . Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.
Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
The flag of Chad (Tchad in French, ุชุดุงุฏ in Arabic). A vertical tricolor of indigo blue, yellow, red. Ratio 2:3. Adopted November 6, 1959, a year before independence from France on August 11, 1960.
Chad chose a palette that combines the pan-African yellow and red with the French tricolor blue instead of the more common green. The result is one of the two most famous flag look-alikes in the world: Chad and Romania use nearly identical designs. The two flags are often indistinguishable at emoji size. Chad has formally disputed the similarity at least twice at the United Nations (in 2004 and 2018). The accepted distinction is that Chad's blue (#002664) is a deeper indigo while Romania's (#002B7F) is closer to cobalt, but both governments use shades that vary in practice.
The colors carry their own local meanings: blue for the sky, hope, and the southern half of the country; yellow for the sun and the Sahara Desert that covers the northern third; red for progress, unity, and the willingness to sacrifice for the nation.
๐น๐ฉ carries unusually low social-media volume for its size (Chad has roughly 18.7 million people), with most international attention running through security news (Sahel insurgencies, the 2021 death of Idriss Dรฉby), climate coverage (the 90% shrinkage of Lake Chad since 1960), and wildlife content (Zakouma National Park's elephants, Ennedi Plateau). The emoji is a regional indicator sequence: (T) + (D). Added in Emoji 2.0 (2015). Platforms without flag support fall back to the letters .
Most people see ๐น๐ฉ and think it's ๐ท๐ด. The dominant 'social use' of Chad's flag online is, paradoxically, people confusing it with Romania's. The two flags look identical at emoji size, and Know Your Meme, Reddit flag-threads, and TikTok geography videos regularly compare them. Chad's 2018 objection to Romania's flag at the UN even briefly trended globally.
News-cycle heavy. Most Chad flag posts are news-cycle-driven. The April 2021 death of longtime President Idriss Dรฉby on the battlefield in northern Chad drove the biggest ๐น๐ฉ spike of the decade. His son Mahamat Dรฉby was installed as transitional president, won a 2024 election, and cemented the succession. Coverage of Boko Haram and Sahelian jihadist groups around Lake Chad regularly features the flag.
Lake Chad climate coverage. The lake has shrunk by roughly 90% since 1960 due to overuse and climate change. The disappearance has become one of the most-cited examples of a climate-driven humanitarian crisis, putting ๐น๐ฉ onto climate-policy feeds.
Zakouma and Ennedi. Zakouma National Park in the southeast is one of Central Africa's great wildlife comeback stories: its elephant population fell from 4,000 in 2006 to under 500 in 2010, then rebounded to over 700 with African Parks management, one of the rare conservation turnarounds of the 2010s. Ennedi Plateau (UNESCO 2016), with its prehistoric rock art and dramatic sandstone arches, has built a small but passionate travel audience.
Diaspora. Around 200,000 to 300,000 Chadians live abroad, concentrated in France, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sudan. ๐น๐ฉ peaks around August 11 Independence Day and during major news events.
The flag of Chad: vertical indigo-blue / yellow / red tricolor, ratio 2:3. Adopted November 6, 1959, a year before independence from France. The flag is visually indistinguishable from Romania's at emoji size.
๐น๐ฉ in Central Africa
The Chad emoji palette
Chad at a glance
- ๐๏ธCapital: N'Djamena (12.13ยฐN, 15.06ยฐE); sits on the Chari River opposite Cameroon's Koussรฉri
- ๐ฅPopulation: ~18.7 million (2025)
- ๐บ๏ธArea: 1,284,000 kmยฒ; 5th-largest country in Africa and the 21st-largest in the world
- ๐ตCurrency: Central African CFA franc (XAF, FCFA); pegged 655.957 to 1 EUR
- ๐ฃ๏ธLanguages: French (official) and Chadian Arabic (official lingua franca); Sara, Kanembu, and many others
- ๐Calling code: +235
- โฐTime zone: WAT (UTC+1), no DST
- ๐Internet TLD: .td
Emoji combos
๐น๐ฉ vs ๐ท๐ด: the lookalike test
Signature foods and iconic places
Foods that show up next to ๐น๐ฉ
Landmarks and cultural sites
Right now in N'Djamena
Origin story
From Equatorial Africa to independence. Chad was part of French Equatorial Africa from 1910. It became an autonomous republic within the French Community on November 28, 1958, and fully independent on August 11, 1960. The 1959 flag was adopted a year before independence: originally proposed as a blue-yellow-green tricolor echoing Ethiopia's pan-African palette, but the green was changed to red specifically because the result was too close to Mali's 1959 pre-independence design.
The Romania coincidence. Chad's designers did not know about Romania's flag when they drafted theirs, which had fallen into relative obscurity after Romania's post-1947 communist adoption of the Socialist Republic of Romania flag (which added a communist coat of arms). When Romania stripped that emblem in December 1989 after the Ceauศescu execution, the two flags became visually indistinguishable. Chad formally complained to UNESCO and the UN in 2004, and then-President Idriss Dรฉby made a public statement in 2018 after Romanian officials implied Chad should change its flag first. Neither country moved.
Franรงois Tombalbaye to the Dรฉby dynasty. Chad's first president, Franรงois Tombalbaye, ruled from 1960 to 1975. The 1979 to 1982 civil war brought Hissรจne Habrรฉ to power; his regime was marked by systematic torture and mass killings. In 1990, Idriss Dรฉby overthrew Habrรฉ and held the presidency for 30 years. Dรฉby died in combat on April 20, 2021 fighting rebels in the north; his son Mahamat Dรฉby took over.
The flag has not changed. Through coups, civil wars, transitions, and constitutional referendums, the 1959 design has been kept in place. The Dรฉby-era governments used it as a symbol of continuity. The 2023 constitutional referendum did not alter the flag.
Indigo vs cobalt: Chad's color defense
Ratio 2:3 ยท Adopted 1959
Around the world
Inside Chad
๐น๐ฉ peaks around August 11 Independence Day, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and around the April 20 Idriss Dรฉby memorial. N'Djamena Twitter runs in French, Chadian Arabic, and Sara. Chad's Muslim majority lives mostly in the north, the Christian-and-animist minority mostly in the south; posts reflect this regional split.
Sahelian security feeds
๐น๐ฉ shows up heavily on security and counter-terrorism coverage. The Multinational Joint Task Force against Boko Haram (joint with Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon) and Chad's role in the G5 Sahel put it on diplomatic feeds. The 2023 breakdown of the G5 Sahel and the pivot of many Sahelian states toward Russia has been a running news story.
Climate and humanitarian crisis feeds
Lake Chad's 90% shrinkage since 1960 and the resulting displacement of 2.4M people across the Lake Chad Basin (Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon) make ๐น๐ฉ one of the most-posted flags on climate-humanitarian feeds.
The Romania lookalike discourse
A lot of ๐น๐ฉ posts are actually about the Romania lookalike. Flag comparison threads, Reddit's r/vexillology, and TikTok geography creators regularly feature the two flags side by side. For many non-Africans this is the only thing they know about Chad's flag.
Yes, in 2004 and again in 2018. Then-President Idriss Dรฉby publicly pressed the issue at the UN, but there was no formal resolution and neither country has changed its design. The story briefly went viral both times.
Western governments advise against non-essential travel to most of the country due to Sahelian insurgencies (Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin, local armed groups in the north). N'Djamena and Zakouma National Park (via African Parks-arranged travel) are comparatively safer than the interior. Check your country's current travel advice before planning.
It was Africa's 4th-largest lake in 1960, straddling Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Overuse, damming, and reduced rainfall have cut its surface area by roughly 90%. The shrinkage displaced 2.4M people across the four basin countries and has become one of the most-cited climate-change case studies globally.
Lake Chad has shrunk by roughly 90% since 1960
When ๐น๐ฉ spikes: Chad's national calendar
- ๐๏ธMay 10: Freedom and Democracy Day: Commemorates the 1990 overthrow of Hissรจne Habrรฉ and the end of his 1982 to 1990 dictatorship.
- ๐August 11: Independence Day: The biggest civic ๐น๐ฉ moment. Commemorates independence from France on [August 11, 1960](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chad). Military parade in N'Djamena.
- ๐น๐ฉNovember 28: Republic Day: Marks the November 28, 1958 proclamation of the Republic of Chad within the French Community.
- ๐Eid al-Fitr / Eid al-Adha: The two biggest Islamic celebrations. Ram sacrifices across N'Djamena on Tabaski (Eid al-Adha).
- ๐Christmas: Public holiday; Christian minority (mostly in the south) observes.
Say it in Arabic or French
Chad vs Romania: the lookalike twins
Andorra. Vertical blue, yellow, red with the central yellow band slightly wider (8:9:8 stripe ratio). The four-quartered coat of arms (Bishop of Urgell mitre, Catalan pales, Foix pales, Bรฉarn cattle) sits on the yellow band. The unequal stripes are the easiest tell at a glance.
Often confused with
The famous lookalike. Romania's flag is also a vertical blue-yellow-red tricolor. The only formal distinction is shade: Chad's blue is meant to be indigo (#002664), Romania's is cobalt (#002B7F). At emoji size the difference is essentially invisible. Chad's 2004 and 2018 UN objections did not result in any design change on either side. See our dedicated Chad vs Romania comparison below.
The famous lookalike. Romania's flag is also a vertical blue-yellow-red tricolor. The only formal distinction is shade: Chad's blue is meant to be indigo (#002664), Romania's is cobalt (#002B7F). At emoji size the difference is essentially invisible. Chad's 2004 and 2018 UN objections did not result in any design change on either side. See our dedicated Chad vs Romania comparison below.
๐ฆ๐ฉ (Andorra) is another blue-yellow-red vertical tricolor, but with an unequal 8:9:8 stripe ratio and a coat of arms in the center. The coat of arms is the instant tell, but at a quick glance the three-color layout is similar to Chad's.
๐ฆ๐ฉ (Andorra) is another blue-yellow-red vertical tricolor, but with an unequal 8:9:8 stripe ratio and a coat of arms in the center. The coat of arms is the instant tell, but at a quick glance the three-color layout is similar to Chad's.
๐ฒ๐ฉ (Moldova) is also blue-yellow-red vertical, but with Moldova's golden auroch head crowned and flanked by an olive branch in the center. Directly descended from Romania's flag with the emblem added in 1990. Same three-color family, Central-and-Eastern-European origin rather than Chad's French-plus-pan-African origin.
๐ฒ๐ฉ (Moldova) is also blue-yellow-red vertical, but with Moldova's golden auroch head crowned and flanked by an olive branch in the center. Directly descended from Romania's flag with the emblem added in 1990. Same three-color family, Central-and-Eastern-European origin rather than Chad's French-plus-pan-African origin.
Both are vertical blue-yellow-red tricolors. Chad's 1959 designers used France's tricolor blue (rather than the more common pan-African green) alongside pan-African yellow and red. When Romania stripped its communist-era coat of arms in December 1989, its plain blue-yellow-red tricolor became visually identical to Chad's. Both governments acknowledge the similarity. The only formal difference is the blue shade: Chad indigo (#002664), Romania cobalt (#002B7F).
Fun facts
- โขChad's flag is nearly identical to Romania's, one of the most-noted coincidences in vexillology. Chad has formally disputed the similarity at least twice at the UN.
- โขChad is the 5th-largest country in Africa by area (1,284,000 kmยฒ) and the 21st-largest in the world.
- โขLake Chad has shrunk by roughly 90% since 1960, one of the most dramatic inland-water collapses ever measured.
- โขEmi Koussi (3,445 m) in Chad's Tibesti range is the Sahara's highest peak.
- โขZakouma National Park rebuilt its elephant population from a low of 500 in 2010 to over 700 today under African Parks management, one of the rare conservation success stories of the decade.
- โขThe Lakes of Ounianga are a series of 18 interconnected freshwater lakes in the middle of the Sahara, fed by a fossil aquifer. UNESCO added them to the World Heritage list in 2012.
- โขChad has had only two presidents in 35 years: Idriss Dรฉby (1990 to 2021) and his son Mahamat Dรฉby (2021 onwards). Idriss Dรฉby died from combat wounds in 2021, a transition unique in modern African politics.
- โขChad's oil exports run through a 1,070 km pipeline from the Doba field to Cameroon's Kribi Atlantic port, financed by the World Bank (2000s) with transparency conditions that Chad later abandoned.
Trivia
For developers
- โข๐น๐ฉ is a regional indicator sequence: (T) + (D). ISO 3166-1 alpha-2: .
- โขUnsupported platforms render it as the letters .
- โขShortcode: or on most messaging platforms.
- โข is easily confused with Romania's in emoji quizzes but not in ISO codes.
๐น๐ฉ was added in Emoji 2.0 (2015), using regional indicators + (T + D). Platforms without flag support fall back to the letters .
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
What do you most associate with ๐น๐ฉ?
Select all that apply
- Flag: Chad Emoji (emojipedia.org)
- Flag of Chad - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Flag of Romania - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Chad - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Idriss Dรฉby death - BBC (bbc.com)
- Mahamat Dรฉby - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Chad complains about Romania flag - EURACTIV (euractiv.com)
- Zakouma National Park - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Ennedi Plateau - UNESCO (unesco.org)
- Lakes of Ounianga - UNESCO (unesco.org)
- Lake Chad Shrinkage - UN Africa Renewal (un.org)
- Emi Koussi - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
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