Flag: Singapore Emoji
U+1F1F8 U+1F1EC:singapore:About Flag: Singapore 🇸🇬
Flag: Singapore () is part of the Flags group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E0.6. 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 Singapore. A horizontal bicolor of red over white with a white waxing crescent moon and five small white five-pointed stars arranged in a ring in the upper hoist. Ratio 2:3. Adopted December 3, 1959 when Singapore achieved self-governing statehood, kept unchanged through the two-year Malaysian merger (1963 to 1965), and retained at independence on August 9, 1965.
🇸🇬 represents a 735 km² city-state of about 6 million people, the smallest and densest country in Southeast Asia and the only one where English is the lingua franca across Chinese, Malay, and Tamil communities. The flag's red stands for "universal brotherhood and equality of man," white for "pervading and everlasting purity and virtue." The crescent is a young nation on the rise; the five stars are the five civic ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality.
The flag is designed by committee, literally. Toh Chin Chye, deputy prime minister in Lee Kuan Yew's first cabinet, led a two-month design process in late 1959. Toh initially wanted a red field, but the Cabinet worried it was too communist. The three-star concept (democracy, justice, equality) was expanded to five to further distance the flag from the Malayan Communist Party's 1930s emblem and to include a crescent, at the request of the Malay-Muslim community, so the flag would not read as "a Chinese state's."
🇸🇬 sits in the global social register as Crazy Rich Asians shorthand, an F1 night-race venue, a hawker-food mecca, an aviation hub (Changi and Singapore Airlines), and the corporate Asia capital of choice for multinationals rotating away from Hong Kong. It is a regional indicator sequence: (S) + (G), mapping to ISO 3166-1 code SG. Added to Unicode in the original 2015 flag set.
🇸🇬 clusters in five places on social. First, the domestic National Day Parade window: the week of August 9 floods Singapore's Instagram and TikTok feeds with NDP photos, flyover shots, and Red Lions parachute clips. 2025's SG60 edition expanded the live parade from the Padang to Marina Bay for the first time, doubling the visual footprint.
Second, the expat and global-mobility feed. Singapore has one of the highest foreign-born shares in Asia (40% of residents) and a hyperactive LinkedIn community where 🇸🇬 sits next to "relocated from Hong Kong" posts. The city has been the single biggest beneficiary of Hong Kong's 2019-onward corporate relocations.
Third, F1 weekend. The Singapore Grand Prix each September or October is one of the most visually striking stops on the calendar, a night race under the Marina Bay skyline with a three-night concert lineup alongside. It pulls tens of thousands of international visitors and a heavy 🇸🇬🏎️ social spike.
Fourth, hawker food. Singapore's hawker culture is UNESCO Intangible Heritage (2020), and the city claims, disputes, or shares a long list of dishes with Malaysia. Hainanese chicken rice, chili crab, laksa, bak kut teh, and Singapore-style black-pepper crab all ride the 🇸🇬 tag.
Fifth, the diaspora, which is the smallest of the five. Singaporeans abroad are usually in London, Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco, and New York. The community is more muted than bigger Southeast Asian diasporas, but active during NDP, SG50 (2015), SG60 (2025), and each new Crazy Rich Asians cultural moment.
The flag of Singapore. Horizontal red-over-white bicolor with a white crescent and five stars in the upper hoist. Red for brotherhood, white for purity. The crescent is a young nation; the five stars are democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality.
The crescent represents a young nation on the rise. The five stars represent the national ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice, and equality. Both the crescent (Islamic symbolism at the request of the Malay community) and the stars (in a ring reminiscent of the PRC's canton) were deliberate multi-ethnic compromises.
🇸🇬 in Maritime Southeast Asia
The Singapore emoji palette
Singapore at a glance
- 🏙️Capital: Singapore (city-state)
- 👥Population: ~5.92 million (2025), about 40% foreign-born
- 🗺️Area: 735 km² (a little larger than NYC)
- 💵Currency: Singapore dollar (SGD, S$)
- 🗣️Languages: English, Malay (national), Mandarin, Tamil (all official)
- 📞Calling code: +65
- ⏰Time zone: SGT (UTC+8), no DST
- 🌐Internet TLD: .sg
Emoji combos
🇸🇬 in Maritime Southeast Asia (Google Trends, 2020 to 2026)
Foods and landmarks that anchor 🇸🇬 content
Foods (mostly shared with Malaysia, sometimes contested)
Landmarks
Right now in Singapore
Origin story
Singapore achieved self-government within the British Empire on June 3, 1959 after a PAP (People's Action Party) election victory. The new Cabinet asked Toh Chin Chye, 38 at the time and deputy prime minister, to lead a two-month flag design process. Toh studied every UN member flag to make sure Singapore's wouldn't be confused with any other country's.
The first proposals were politically charged. Toh initially wanted a solid red background. The Cabinet rejected it as too communist-adjacent at the height of the Cold War and the Malayan Emergency. Toh proposed three stars (democracy, justice, equality); the Malay-Muslim community asked for a crescent. The Chinese majority liked the idea of stars modeled on the PRC's red-star field. The crescent plus five stars was the compromise.
The flag was unveiled on December 3, 1959 alongside the national anthem Majulah Singapura and the state crest, at the installation of Yusof bin Ishak as Yang di-Pertuan Negara (head of state). Singapore joined Malaysia on September 16, 1963 and carried the flag through the merger unchanged. On August 9, 1965, Lee Kuan Yew announced Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia in a televised press conference that ran so long he wept on camera. The flag stayed the same; Singapore was suddenly a 580 km² city-state on its own.
The flag has not changed since. Singapore celebrates SG50 (2015), SG60 (2025), SG70 (2035) as major anniversaries, each with an expanded NDP. The 1959 ratio of 2:3 and the exact crescent geometry are codified in the Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Rules.
The 🇸🇬 flag, close up
Ratio 2:3 · Adopted 1959
Around the world
Domestic Singapore
🇸🇬 is heavily civic. Singaporeans use it around National Day, the F1 race, and formal moments. Ethnic Chinese Singaporeans layer 🇨🇳🇭🇰🇹🇼 during Lunar New Year; Malay Singaporeans use 🇸🇬🇲🇾 together around Hari Raya and family trips home; Tamil Singaporeans layer 🇮🇳 for Deepavali. The unique Singaporean thing is how comfortably these stack.
Hong Kong corporate relocations
Since 2019, Hong Kong's political and economic trajectory has driven a sustained corporate-relocation wave to Singapore. JPMorgan, Goldman, TikTok, Dyson, BlackRock, and Temasek all added or expanded SG offices during 2019 to 2024. LinkedIn bios reading 🇭🇰→🇸🇬 became a recognizable subgenre.
Singapore vs Malaysia food rivalry
The eternal 🇸🇬 vs 🇲🇾 food debates: nasi lemak, laksa (Katong vs Penang), chili crab, Hainanese chicken rice, bak kut teh. Both countries are tourism-funded; both claim the same dishes. Chefs like Damian D'Silva periodically plead for everyone to calm down. No one does.
Global expat feed
Singapore has one of Asia's most international populations (roughly 40% foreign-born). 🇸🇬 appears in bios of third-culture kids, mobile bankers, and long-haul consultants who never quite leave. It's a badge of "I chose this," unusual for a national flag.
Crazy Rich Asians afterglow
The 2018 film) (and subsequent stage musical and sequels) made 🇸🇬 shorthand for a certain aesthetic: infinity pools at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Sling at Raffles, wedding at Chijmes, food at Newton. American first-timers plan trips off the movie's visual grammar.
August 9, 1965, when Singapore was expelled from Malaysia. The country had joined Malaysia on September 16, 1963 and separated less than two years later. The flag and anthem were already in place from December 1959, when Singapore first achieved self-government within the British Empire.
Singapore is an independent sovereign country, a member of the UN since 1965 and ASEAN since 1967. It was part of Malaysia from September 16, 1963 to August 9, 1965 as one of the federated states, then was expelled on August 9, 1965. It has been fully independent since.
The 2018 film) and Kevin Kwan's original novel are both set almost entirely in Singapore. Raffles Hotel, Gardens by the Bay, Marina Bay Sands, Newton Food Centre, and Chijmes all feature. The film was the first all-Asian-lead Hollywood studio movie in 25 years, and it drove a major tourism bump through 2019.
August 9, the anniversary of separation from Malaysia in 1965. NDP is a major televised event with aerial shows, the Red Lions parachute team, and fireworks at Marina Bay. 2025 was the SG60 edition; 2035 will be SG70.
When 🇸🇬 spikes: Singapore's calendar
- 🎆January 1: New Year's Day: Marina Bay fireworks and the Siloso Beach countdown party.
- 🧧February 17, 2026: Chinese New Year: Two-day public holiday. Chinatown light-up, lion dances, bak kwa queues at Bee Cheng Hiang.
- 🕌March 21, 2026: Hari Raya Puasa (Eid al-Fitr): Public holiday. Geylang Serai bazaar and Kampong Glam light up through Ramadan.
- 🏮June 1, 2026: Vesak Day: Public holiday for the Buddhist community (~31% of residents).
- 🇸🇬August 9: National Day (NDP): The flag-post day. Celebrates 1965 independence. Red Lions parachute drop, F-15SGs fly past, everyone wears red and white.
- 🏎️October 3 to 5, 2026: Singapore F1 Grand Prix: Marina Bay Street Circuit night race. 260k-plus weekend attendance; global 🇸🇬🏎️ spike.
- 🪔November 8, 2026: Deepavali: Festival of Lights. Little India's Serangoon Road lights up for a month.
- 🎄December 25: Christmas Day: Public holiday. Orchard Road's light-up is one of Asia's most elaborate Christmas strips.
Say it in Singapore
🇸🇬 ranks ~#32 among flag emojis globally
Often confused with
🇮🇩 (Indonesia) is a plain red-over-white horizontal bicolor at 2:3 ratio, the same base as Singapore but without the crescent-and-stars canton. At tiny sizes the two flags' base halves look identical; the crescent is the dead giveaway.
🇮🇩 (Indonesia) is a plain red-over-white horizontal bicolor at 2:3 ratio, the same base as Singapore but without the crescent-and-stars canton. At tiny sizes the two flags' base halves look identical; the crescent is the dead giveaway.
🇲🇨 (Monaco) is also a red-over-white horizontal bicolor but at a shorter 4:5 ratio. No canton emblem. Design predates Singapore by several centuries and derives from the Grimaldi coat of arms.
🇲🇨 (Monaco) is also a red-over-white horizontal bicolor but at a shorter 4:5 ratio. No canton emblem. Design predates Singapore by several centuries and derives from the Grimaldi coat of arms.
🇹🇷 (Turkey) has a crescent and star on a solid red field. Same palette (red + white) and a crescent, but one five-pointed star instead of five, and no white band underneath. The crescent-on-solid-field is the distinction.
🇹🇷 (Turkey) has a crescent and star on a solid red field. Same palette (red + white) and a crescent, but one five-pointed star instead of five, and no white band underneath. The crescent-on-solid-field is the distinction.
Both are red-over-white horizontal bicolors at 2:3 ratio, but Singapore adds a white crescent and five stars in the upper hoist. At thumbnail sizes the base halves look near-identical; the crescent-and-stars canton is the tell. The two countries' flags were designed independently 14 years apart.
Fun facts
- •Singapore was part of Malaysia for less than two years, from September 16, 1963 to August 9, 1965. Lee Kuan Yew cried on live TV when announcing the separation, one of the most-watched political moments in Southeast Asian history.
- •The word "Singapura" means "lion city" in Sanskrit-Malay. The Merlion (lion head, fish body) was invented in 1964 by the Singapore Tourism Board and is a civic mascot, not a mythological one. Most Singaporeans find it a little kitsch.
- •Changi Airport has been named World's Best Airport 13 times by Skytrax. The Jewel Rain Vortex (40 m) is the world's tallest indoor waterfall.
- •Singapore's hawker culture was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list in 2020. The country has 6,000-plus cooked-food hawkers across 100+ centres, and two stalls (Hawker Chan, Hill Street Tai Hwa Pork Noodle) have been awarded Michelin stars.
- •The Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, Singapore's national flower, is a hybrid developed in 1893 by Armenian-Singaporean Agnes Joaquim. It was the first-ever hybrid of any orchid species to be officially registered.
- •Marina Bay Sands, opened in 2010, cost US$5.7 billion to build, making it the most expensive standalone casino-hotel development in the world when it opened.
- •Singapore has the highest share of millionaires per capita in Asia. According to the 2024 UBS Global Wealth Report, one in six households has at least US$1 million in net worth.
Trivia
- Flag of Singapore - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Singapore's national flag - National Library Board (nlb.gov.sg)
- Independence of Singapore Agreement 1965 - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Hawker Culture in Singapore - UNESCO (ich.unesco.org)
- Crazy Rich Asians (film) - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Singapore National Day Parade - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- NDP 2025 SG60 - official site (sg60.gov.sg)
- Singapore Grand Prix - Formula 1 (formula1.com)
- Vanda Miss Joaquim - Wikipedia (wikipedia.org)
- Singapore Arms and Flag and National Anthem Rules (sso.agc.gov.sg)
- Flag: Singapore - Emojipedia (emojipedia.org)
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