General Knowledge: Why You Don’t See Purple On National Flags – News18

Last Updated:March 26, 2025, 16:07 IST

Purple is rare on flags due to its historical expense. It was made from sea snails and reserved for royalty. Dominica and Nicaragua are exceptions with purple in their flags

If you observe closely, you will notice that red, blue, green, yellow, black, and white are commonly found in the flags of nearly all countries. But have you ever seen a flag that features purple? Likely not! Have you ever wondered why purple is so rare on flags? The reason may amuse you!

The Rarity Of Purple In History

While purple is easily accessible today, it was one of the most expensive colours historically. It was challenging to produce naturally and was only available to wealthy kings and emperors.

In ancient times, purple dye was extracted from a specific type of sea snail. Thousands of these snails were needed to dye even a small piece of cloth in purple. This made the colour extremely expensive, so it was reserved for the clothing of royalty and nobility.

When designing a country’s flag, it had to be produced on a large scale. Using purple dye would have been prohibitively expensive. Therefore, most countries opted for colours that were cheap and readily available, such as red, blue, green, yellow, and white. This is why these colours dominate most of the world’s flags.

Flags Featuring Purple

However, there are two countries whose flags do include purple. Dominica’s flag features the ‘Sisserou Parrot’, which is green and purple. Nicaragua’s flag depicts a rainbow in the central triangle that includes light purple.

Nowadays, creating purple dye is both easy and inexpensive. This colour is now common in everyday clothing and school bags. If a new country were to design its flag today, it’s quite possible that purple could be included. Despite this, historical factors mean that purple remains rare on flags.