Flag sizes in Portugal – the flag and the pole

The size of a flag depends on two things: the proportions set by law and the relationship with the pole, which the law leaves open. The proportions of the national flag have been fixed since 1911. The size of flag for each pole, on the other hand, comes from practice, with some partial official references. This guide brings both together. The size for a particular pole can be worked out with the flag size calculator.

The official proportions

The decree published in the Diário do Governo of 30 June 1911, implementing the decree of the Constituent National Assembly of 19 June, sets the measurements of the national flag:

The hoist is the side of the flag next to the pole. On a flag 100 centimetres high, the length is 150 centimetres, green takes 60 centimetres and red 90. The Presidency of the Republic’s archive adds, in its drawing instructions, that the diameter of the armillary sphere is half the height of the flag and that the shield is seven tenths of the sphere’s diameter high.

Usual sizes

Flags are sold in standard sizes, given as height × length. According to a Portuguese supplier, the most common sizes of the national flag are:

The area grows quickly: according to the same supplier, a 200 × 300 cm flag has four times the area of a 100 × 150 cm one, and the wind load on the pole increases accordingly.

The flag and the pole

No Portuguese law links the size of the national flag to the height of the pole. Decreto-Lei n.º 150/87 only provides that the national flag, when flown with other flags, is not smaller than they are. There are, however, two partial official references:

• GNR: The GNR Heraldry Regulations (Portaria n.º 1194/2009) state that the side of its flags for flying, which are square, is proportional to the height of the pole and can, as a reference, be between one fifth and one seventh of the pole’s height.
• Azores: Decreto Regulamentar Regional n.º 13/79/A provides that the flag of the Azores is no more than half and no less than a quarter of the pole’s height.

In commercial practice, the same one-seventh-to-one-fifth rule appears in a Portuguese flag supplier’s table:

According to the supplier, the smaller size in the range is the more common one in coastal areas and windy sites, and the limit set by the pole’s manufacturer takes precedence over any general guidance. The height of the pole is covered in the guide to flagpole heights.

Façade poles

On an angled façade pole, the flag needs room to move without touching the wall, windows or trees. In the same supplier’s table, a pole of 1.2 to 1.5 metres takes a flag of 50 × 75 or 60 × 90 cm, and a pole of 2 to 2.5 metres a flag of 80 × 120 cm.

Flags with different proportions

Not all flags have the proportions 2 : 3. The flag of Madeira also has a height two thirds of its width, under Decreto Regional n.º 30/78/M, but the GNR’s flags for flying are square, and so are local authority standards. When flags of different proportions fly side by side, it is common to choose sizes of the same height, so that the national flag is not smaller. The rules are in the guide to flag protocol.