Liberian sub-national flags

Last modified: 2025-03-08 by rob raeside
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• Liberian county flags
  • Counties
  • Design
  • Usage
    • Reports of recent usage
      • Grand Gedeh
      • Nimba
      • Montserrado
• Other subnational flags
  • Monrovia
  • Paynesville

• Liberia
• Clickable map of Liberian counties

• “Liberia : Counties and districts”, at the English Wikipedia

About Liberian county flags

Counties

Design

image by António Martins, 26 January 2004

Liberian county flag design includes always the national flag design on the upper hoist (about 1/4th size) and the remaining field filled with a particular design. While some show a particular element on the (lower) fly and an otherwise plain field (Bomi, Grand Bassa, Margibi), others use up the space in full. Sometimes the the national flag design on the upper hoist seems to be a part of the design (River Cess, Grand Kru), others it appears to have been added as an afterthought (Nimba, Maryland). Grand Cape Mount is something of an exception, with the national flag design yes on the upper hoist but not touching the border for design reasons.
António Martins, 26 January 2004

The basic motif, with the national flag in canton, is kept — as has happen also with the newer four flags (Bomi, Grand Kru, Margibi and River Cess); the only (partial) exception, Grand Cape Mount, is one of the original lot of nine.
António Martins, 30 August 2008

The book [smi75b] shows, I believe, the same shade of green for all these flags, but Montserrado is hard to judge, as it has the green directly against a greyish blue background.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 07 September 2009

Usage

Smith 1975 [smi75b] lists nine county flags (Bong, Grand Bassa, Grand Cape (so spelled!), Grand Gedeh, Lofa, Maryland, Montserrado, Nimba and Sinoe) and give this note to the presentation of those flags:

These flags were presented to the Liberian counties by President William V. S. Tubman on 29 November 1965, his seventieth birthday.

These flags are officially in use but rarely used out of the provincial government headquarters.
Jaume Ollé, 11 January 2000

I think that the related flags were created in 1965 and even if the number of provinces increased since then, it is unlikely, considering the political situation of Liberia, that any additional flags were created after about 1990.
António Martins, 2 April 2003

Reports of recent usage

It is nice to see a confirmation of these elusive flags, but I’d prefer a cloth flag photo, as it would be more real than just a web image nicked from somewhere.
António Martins, 18 September 2006

Does anybody have information on the current status of the Liberian county flags? Have they been used (in cloth) over the last, say 20-30 years? Or only (in transmogrified form) on the internet?
M. Schmöger, 05 March 2007

Photo of county flags, hoisted at the presidential palace, in the official website.
Jan Mertens, 13 August 2009

image located by Martin Karner, 11 February 2025

A photograph of a church in Monrovia shows five subnational flags in use: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php. From left to right these are Margibi, Montserrado, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount and Gbarpolu counties.
Martin Karner and Valentin Poposki, 11 February 2025

A fairly new and very detailed account of Liberian county flags is [kws21], a 2021 article by Steven A. Knowlton, publ. in Raven 28: pp. 57-90.

In 2008 a new series of stamps was issued at https://www.bombaystamps.com/images3/45393.jpg,  covering also the flags of newly created counties, but some of the unchanged flags were shown with significant differences. For Bomi the roundel is shown shifted to the top, and the background is dark red (same as on the lower fly of Montserrado). It seems that a wide variation occurs.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 12 February 2025

Grand Gedeh

On the website of The Grand Gedeh Association in the Americas Incorporated the flag of the Grand Gedeh county is shown.
Valentin Poposki, 16 June 2006

Nimba

The flag of Nimba county is shown on the website of the UNICCO — United Nimba Citizens’ Council.
Valentin Poposki, 16 June 2006

Montserrado

Here’s an actual image showing the Montserrado County flag from the ForeignPolicy.COM website. The image caption says that «Josephine George-Francis, governor of Montserrado County, sewed the Liberian flag that hangs in her office». The actual usage of county flags seems to be confirmed.
Antonio Gutiérrez, 5 March 2007

Other sub-national flags

Monrovia

image by Tomislav Šipek, 6 August 2018

Very interesting photo showing the central part of the flag of the City Corporation of Monrovia, Liberia, [at the official weblog].
Valentin Poposki, 15 April 2009

A plain white flag with a large depiction of the city corporation arms centered on it. The arms are quartered Sable and Argent on the I a key Argent, on the II a palm tree issuant from an earthy compartment proper, on the III a different kind of tree likewise, and on the IV an elephant statant trompetant dexter, and on a chief Azure a sun Gules nimbused Argent setting on a sea proper throughout and an estoile faceted Sable and Argent, both offset to the sinister. White scroll reading in black capitals "The City Government of Monrovia" above "The Monrovia City Corporation". This coat of arms seems to be pre-existing to the flag, or at least to its current bearer, judging but the latter’s modern-sounding name.
António Martins, 21 February 2012

The flag consists of the logo (https://monroviacitycorporation.files.wordpress.com) over a white horizontal background.

"Monrovia was established on April 25, 1822 and it was named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe, a prominent supporter of the colonization of Liberia and the American Colonization Society (1817-1964). Municipally, Greater Monrovia District is one of four districts located in Montserrado County. Greater Monrovia has no official administrative status. Unlike other districts of Liberia which are divided into clans, Greater Monrovia is divided into zones. Greater Monrovia is subdivided into two city corporations (Monrovia City Corporation and Paynesville City Corporation) and ten other local authorities (nine townships and one borough). Established by law in 1973 and operational since 1976, the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) is responsible for the city's administration, as well as providing services to the townships and borough through a revenue-sharing arrangement, but has no zoning or enforcement jurisdiction in them."
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monrovia and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Monrovia_District
Photographic evidence of the flag of Monrovia at:
- (second flag, from left to right): https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com (source: https://www.liberianobserver.com/news/mcc-to-fine-dirty-residents/)

For additional information go to MCC (official website): http://monroviacitycorporation.com/
Esteban Rivera, 8 August 2018

Paynesville

image by Tomislav Šipek, 7 August 2018

The flag of Paynesville is white with emblem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Cyvette_M._Gibson
Tomislav Šipek, 7 August 2018

"Paynesville (sometimes Paynesward) is a city which often considered a part of the Greater Monrovia area, one of four Districts located in Montserrado County. The city was established in 1865 and it is governed by the Paynesville City Corporation."
Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paynesville,_Liberia and https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/2016news/paynesville-city-mayor-to-address-world-conference-of-mayors-in-detroit/

As Tomislav pointed out, the city flag is the logo over a white horizontal background, surrounded by a golden fringe.

Other pictures of the flag are found here:
- (second from left to right): https://c8.alamy.com/comp (source: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo
- https://www.facebook.com
Esteban Rivera, 8 August 2018