But despite the fact that they are so important, we rarely consider their aesthetic qualities. Why are they the colors that they are?

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, countries are only allowed to choose from red, green, blue or black.

Red

All members of the European Union have red passports, and EU hopefuls, Turkey, Macedonia, and Albania, recently changed the shade of their passports to match. According to Hrant Boghossian, the vice president of Arton Group, which runs Passport Index, red passports could also hint at a communist past. For example, Chinese and Slovenian passports are red.

Green

Like in the case of green, the color can reflect a country’s predominant religion. Muslim-majority countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia all use green, the color of Islam. Green is also the color of the Economic Community of West African States, and all of its members have green passports to represent their alliance.

(Read also: Asia’s most and least powerful passports)

Blue

The most common passport color, members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) all have blue passports, as do affiliates of Mercosur, such as Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. The United States, country of the third most powerful passport, is blue to represent the American flag. The country has used red and green in the past, before settling on blue in 1994.

Black

Black serves as the least common passport, with only 10 countries using the color. New Zealand’s passport is black, in reference to the country’s national color. Remaining African nations like Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Trinidad and Tobago also have black passports. US diplomatic passports can be black, which indicate that airport personnel may not search, delay, detain, or arrest them. (sul/kes)

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia