Flag: Nepal Emoji

The flag of Nepal, the only non-rectangular national flag in the world. A double-pennant in crimson red outlined with a blue border. The upper triangular pennant holds a white crescent moon with the sun's eight rays attached below it; the lower pennant holds a white stylized sun with twelve rays. The geometry is defined by a 24-step mathematical construction in Schedule 1 of the 2015 Constitution, not by a fixed length-to-width ratio. Approximate ratio is 5:4 height-to-width.

🇳🇵 represents a country of around 30 million people squeezed between India's northern plains and Tibet's high plateau. The Nepali diaspora is roughly 3-4 million strong, dominated by labor migrants to the Gulf (around 1 million in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia), Malaysia (around 500,000), India (around 600,000), and growing communities in the UK (around 75,000 including Gurkha veterans and their families), the US (around 220,000), and Australia (around 110,000). Nepal's remittances account for over 20% of GDP, one of the highest ratios in the world.

The flag was adopted in its standardized form on December 16, 1962, when civil engineer Shankar Nath Rimal formalized the ancient double-pennant used by the Rana and Shah branches of the ruling dynasty. The double-pennant design itself is far older, tracing to Rajput banners used across the South Asian highlands from medieval times. When Nepal abolished its 200-year-old monarchy on May 28, 2008, the flag survived the transition: the sun and moon imagery, which originally symbolized the hope that Nepal would endure as long as the celestial bodies, was retained without modification.

The emoji is a regional indicator sequence: U+1F1F3 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER NU+1F1F3 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER N + U+1F1F5 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER PU+1F1F5 REGIONAL INDICATOR SYMBOL LETTER P. Part of Emoji 1.0 (2015). The non-rectangular shape is preserved in emoji fonts: Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung all render 🇳🇵 as a true double-pennant rather than forcing it into a rectangle. Fallback is the letters NPNP on unsupported platforms.

🇳🇵 usage runs along three tracks: mountain tourism, diaspora labor migration, and culture.

Himalayan mountaineering is the global brand. Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali, Chomolungma in Sherpa) and seven other of the world's fourteen 8,000-meter peaks sit inside Nepal. Base camp treks, summit days, and Sherpa culture posts all push 🇳🇵🏔️ to peak seasonal volume from late March to early May (spring climbing season) and again October-November (trekking peak). The Annapurna Circuit is the most-walked long-distance trekking route outside Europe.

The Gulf migrant labor story. Around 1 million Nepalis work in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Qatar alone hosts around 400,000 Nepalis, many of whom worked on 2022 World Cup construction. Remittance posts from Doha, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur drive a steady baseline of 🇳🇵 volume. Stories of labor abuse, passport confiscation, and worker deaths during construction have made Nepali migrant accounts some of the most politically charged in the region.

Cultural festivals. Dashain (September or October, 15-day Hindu festival, Nepal's biggest holiday) empties offices and schools for about 10 days. Tihar) (October or November, five-day festival of lights) includes Kukur Tihar, the day when dogs are garlanded with marigolds and blessed. Images of dressed-up dogs drive one of the year's most-viral global Nepal posts annually.

Travel influencer content. Pokhara's Phewa Lake, Chitwan National Park's rhinoceros and Bengal tiger sightings, Bhaktapur's UNESCO-listed Durbar Square (badly damaged in the 2015 earthquake), Lumbini (Buddha's birthplace and UNESCO World Heritage Site), and the rhododendron-blooming hills of the Annapurna region all drive travel-vlog posts.

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  Capital: Kathmandu (27.72°N, 85.32°E)
• 👥
  Population: ~29.6 million (2025)
• 🗺️
  Area: 147,516 km²
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  Currency: Nepalese rupee (NPR, रू)
• 🗣️
  Language: Nepali (official); Maithili, Bhojpuri, Newari, Tamang also spoken
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  Calling code: +977
• ⏰
  Time zone: NPT (UTC+5:45), no DST, one of the few 45-minute-offset zones globally
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  Internet TLD: .np

Foods that show up next to 🇳🇵

Landmarks that anchor travel content

The Nepali flag's story is also the story of two royal houses and an unbroken pennant tradition. The double-pennant shape descends from the banners of the Rana and Shah families, which together ruled Nepal for most of the 19th and 20th centuries. Each dynasty flew its own triangular pennant; the modern flag combines them into a single unified banner.

The pennant tradition. Triangular flags are ancient across the South Asian highlands. CNN's explainer on Nepal's flag notes that the double-pennant was common on Rajput and Marathi standards going back centuries. The shape was practical: triangular flags furled cleanly even in low winds, making them easier to see across valleys and rugged terrain. Most countries eventually adopted rectangular flags borrowed from European practice; Nepal kept its pennant design.

1962 standardization. Before 1962, the flag existed in many variant forms. Under King Mahendra's new constitution that year, civil engineer Shankar Nath Rimal was asked to standardize the design. Rimal developed a precise mathematical construction using 24 geometric steps that defines every line, angle, and point of the flag. The construction is codified in Schedule 1 of the 2015 Constitution, which makes Nepal's flag the only national flag whose geometry is constitutionally specified down to the millimeter.

The sun and moon. Originally, the sun and moon had human faces inside them, following Hindu and Buddhist iconography. The 1962 standardization simplified the celestial bodies to abstract stylized shapes, partly to make them easier to render across mediums and partly to broaden the symbolism beyond any one religion. The faces were a feature of royal flags for centuries. The simplified 1962 design removed them.

Symbolism. Crimson red represents bravery and rhododendron, the national flower, which blooms across the Himalayan foothills in March and April. Blue, the border color, represents peace. The sun and moon together symbolize the hope that Nepal would endure as long as the sun and moon remain in the sky. The sun represents the royal Shah family's warmth and energy; the moon represents the Rana family's calm resolve.

After the monarchy. Nepal abolished its monarchy on May 28, 2008, becoming a federal democratic republic. The Shah king Gyanendra was the 240th and last monarch of a dynasty founded in 1768. Notably, the flag's royal imagery survived the transition with no changes. The 2015 constitution re-codified the same geometric construction, confirming the flag as a symbol above any particular political era.

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  September or October: Dashain: Nepal's biggest holiday. 15-day Hindu festival. Offices and schools close for around 10 days. Tika day with family blessings.
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  October or November: Tihar: Five-day festival of lights. Kukur Tihar (dogs garlanded and blessed) goes globally viral each year.
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  April 14: Nepali New Year: First day of Baisakh in the Bikram Sambat calendar. Bhaktapur's Bisket Jatra chariot festival.
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  May full moon: Buddha Jayanti: Buddha's birthday. Pilgrimages to Lumbini and Swayambhunath Stupa. Major day for the global Buddhist community.
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  May 28: Republic Day: Marks the 2008 abolition of the monarchy.
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  September 19: Constitution Day: Commemorates the 2015 constitution that made Nepal a secular, federal republic. Considered a bigger flag day than Republic Day in recent years.

• •Nepal is the only non-rectangular national flag in the world. The double-pennant shape is older than the concept of a rectangular national flag.
• •The flag's geometric construction takes 24 precise steps, codified in Schedule 1 of Nepal's 2015 constitution. You can actually construct the flag with a straightedge and compass.
• •Nepal is home to eight of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 meters, including Everest (8,848.86 m), Kangchenjunga (8,586 m, shared with India), Lhotse (8,516 m), Makalu (8,485 m), Cho Oyu (8,188 m), Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Manaslu (8,163 m), and Annapurna I (8,091 m).
• •Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal around 563 BCE. Lumbini is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major pilgrimage destination for Buddhists worldwide.
• •Nepal had a monarchy until May 28, 2008, when the Constituent Assembly abolished it. The Shah dynasty had ruled for 240 years. The 2001 royal massacre, in which Crown Prince Dipendra killed nine members of the royal family before dying, set the stage for the eventual transition.
• •Remittances account for over 20% of Nepal's GDP, one of the highest remittance-dependence ratios in the world. About 3-4 million Nepalis work abroad at any given time, mostly in the Gulf, Malaysia, and India.
• •Nepal's Kukur Tihar, the day dogs are garlanded and blessed during the five-day Tihar festival, generates one of the world's most-viral festival images every October or November.