- Most passports worldwide are limited to four colors: red, blue, green, and black
- Red passports symbolize European identity and sophistication, influenced by the EU
- Blue passports represent New World countries and political distancing from Europe
With 193 countries in the world, you might expect passports to come in every colour imaginable: pink, yellow, purple, orange, etc. But in a recent Instagram video, content creator Apoorva recently revealed most passports around the world are largely limited to four colours: red, blue, green and black. "Don't you think it is crazy that we have 193 countries and yet almost every passport is either red, blue, green, or black?" he asked. He then broke down what each of these colours is believed to represent.
There's A Reason Almost Every Passport Looks Like This
Apoorva began with red passports. According to his video, the European Union decided in the 1980s that member passports should be burgundy. The idea, he explained, was to create a sense of sophistication and European identity the moment someone opened their passport.
He said the colour became so strongly associated with Europe that even some countries outside the European Union, including Turkey and Albania, switched to red to signal their aspirations of joining the union.
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Apoorva explained that blue became associated with the "New World", with countries using it to create a sense of distance from what he described as "old Europe". There was another factor too. According to him, red passports also reminded people of communist regimes. This made passport colours politically symbolic in some countries.
He specifically pointed to Croatia, saying that even after joining the European Union, the country refused to switch to a red passport and retained blue as a sign of protest, according to the explanation shared in the video.
Green, Apoorva said, is largely associated with religion. He explained that many Islamic countries use green passports because the colour is considered the Prophet's favourite colour. This makes green one of the passport colours with a strong religious association, according to the creator's breakdown.
Black, meanwhile, is the rarest of the four. Apoorva said New Zealand uses black as part of its national identity. But in many other cases, he explained, black can be associated with diplomatic passports. According to him, it can act as a signal to border officials that the passport holder has diplomatic immunity and needs to be handled differently.
Why Don't We See Pink Or Yellow Passports?
The second reason behind the dominance of darker passport colours, Apoorva said, has nothing to do with politics, geography or religion. It comes down to manufacturing. The gold emblem on a passport cover is stamped using heated metal foil. According to Apoorva, the foil looks sharper and more premium against darker backgrounds. That means even if a country wanted to experiment with a bright pink or yellow passport, the manufacturing process itself could become a limitation.
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The Internet Had Plenty To Add
The video quickly got people talking about passport colours that did not fit neatly into the four-colour explanation. One person pointed out, "Nepal has a brown passport, btw."
Another had a simple suggestion for the future. "I think purple would be great," the comment read. One user took the idea even further and wondered why passports could not work more like bank cards. "What if you could customise your passport just like your debit/credit cards?" they wrote.
Another commenter pointed out that Singapore's passport also stands out. "Well, Singapore isn't in Europe, but our passport is a bright spicy red," they said.
Judging by the comments, many are now wondering whether the world is ready for a purple passport.
