Have you ever noticed that passports are always issued in blue, green, blue, black or red?

If you've wondered why the government doesn't issue the travel document in pink, yellow or purple then read on.

According to passport expert Hrant Boghossian, the color of the document is largely dependant on practicality as well as a country's motives.

He tells Business Insider UK that "passport production is a highly controlled process, and only few companies around the world are doing it. He adds that a third party supplier is responsible for the cardstock covers so it "only comes in certain colour variations to meet the required standards."

In addition, every country has it's own process for choosing a color to represent their citizens' main travel document.

For example, countries in the European Union issue burgundy passports while North America, South America and Oceania tend to have blue passports to symbolize the "new world."

Countries that opt for green are generally those in the Middle East as the color is significant in their religion and is a "symbol of nature and life."

Hip nations like Switzerland offer bright red passports to stand out from the typical burgundy.

There it is ladies and gents, next time you're queuing up at the airport you'll know exactly why your passport might look like everyone else's.