At the airport or at border crossings, they are out.
These little booklets, with “passport” written on them in all languages.
They constitute our precious key to getting to the other side (of security or of the border, make no mistake).
But, apart from the language which can change on the cover, another difference is striking: the color.
Yes, not all passports look the same.
Apart from this revelation which is not a revelation, a question remains: why such a difference in colors?
Officially, there are four colors of passports: green, blue, black and red, even if there is a variation in the shades, as shown by the Passport Index, which lists all the passports in the world.
Contrary to what one might believe, these do not necessarily correspond to a specific region in the world.
However, their existence is not without reason.
They result from a history, where politics, religion sometimes and a little geography (all the same) mix.
Symbolic colors
If there are four colors of passports, the variations in color seem as numerous as there are countries.
Passport Index screenshot
The
red passport
is the most common in the world.
This color (rather its burgundy version) is the one used by all member countries of the European Union - except Croatia, which has a dark blue passport - or countries interested in joining the European Union, such as Turkey, Macedonia and Albania.
In 2020, after Brexit, the United Kingdom abandoned the European burgundy and returned to the blue passport.
Countries that are former or current communist regimes have also adopted the red hue, such as Slovenia, Russia, China, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia.
The countries of the Andean Community of Nations (namely Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia) also use it.
The
color blue
is the second most common.
It could refer to what we call the “New World”: 15 Caribbean countries have adopted it, as have the United States (which previously used burgundy and green before turning to blue) and Canada.
The same is true for many countries in South America.
This color is used in particular by members of Mercosur (the Southern Common Market, which is a free trade zone bringing together Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, Venezuela having been suspended since December 2016).
In third place is the
green
passport
, generally associated with Muslim countries, such as Morocco, Egypt, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia.
In Islam, green is considered an important color, a symbol of immortality and believed to be the favorite of the Prophet Muhammad.
Without a link to religion, other states have also adopted green, like the members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which includes Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia and Senegal, for example.
What about the
color black
?
It is the rarest, used by a few African nations, such as the Republic of Congo, Malawi and Angola, but also other countries, such as Tajikistan and Trinidad and Tobago.
New Zealand has also adopted this color, which directly links it to its national rugby team, the All Blacks.
Are there other colors?
If the choice of colors seems a little limited, some countries still manage to stand out with more or less recognizable covers, like the Republic of Vanuatu and its sea green, or Rwanda and its turquoise blue. .
Not to mention the illustrations which cover them (special mention in the New Zealand passport), but also the interior pages which may have some eccentricities (new special mention in the Canadian passport and its pages which light up thanks to UV).
Other colors, apart from the four mentioned above, can also be used in passports other than ordinary ones.
This is the case for Turkey, which uses gray for its service passport.
This type of document is reserved for those who cannot claim a diplomatic passport, but still carry out missions on behalf of a country.
It can be reserved for members of the Red Cross or other international organizations, but also athletes.
Enough to add more nuances to this already colorful universe.