Your passport hugely determines how much you can travel the world. How? Passports are very different. Therefore, some passports can allow you to visit more places compared to others. The Henley Passport Index has created a report to help people understand how different passports work, and how powerful they are. Here, we look at the top ranked passports in the entire planet to help you determine which you’d love more depending on its power. So, keep reading to find out.
The International Air Transport Association (the biggest source of travel information) has revealed that as we enter the 21st century, Japan’s passport still holds the first spot for about the third year now.
If you have a Japan passport, you usually have a visa-on-arrival or visa-free access to about 191 destinations. Singapore takes the second place and gives you access to 190 destinations with South Korea and Germany following with 189 countries each.
The world is adapting mobility as a vital and permanent condition of daily life. Asian countries have embraced this fact more, which explains why their passports are the most powerful in the world.
Several European countries take the other spots in the top ten list. The first Asian or non-European country in this list is the USA, which is at the eight positions alongside the UK. These two have about 184 visa-on-arrival or accessible visa-free destinations each, which is what has helped them get at the top spots. However, the United States and the UK have been losing their high positions for some time now since they are hugely affected by Brexit and other major foreign policies. Getting your US passport approved can be tricky sometimes. So, you need to ensure you have the required US passport picture format to help you get the passport approved.
Afghanistan’s passport takes the bottom spot as it gives you visa-on-arrival access to only 26 destinations, which is approximately 165 fewer countries compared to Japan’s. At second last place is Iraq’s passport, which you can only use to visit 28 countries.
The Middle East has improved a lot. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both climbed about four places now holding the 18th spot. So, with these passports, you can visit 77 and 171 destinations, respectively. The UAE has also been named the best performer over the last few years as it has moved from the 65th to 18th place.
Here is a full list of the top-ranking passports and their number of destinations:
- Japan with (191)
- Singapore (190)
- Germany and South Korea (189)
- Finland and Italy (188)
- Luxembourg, Spain, and Denmark (187)
- France and Sweden (186)
- Switzerland, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, and Netherlands (185)
- United Kingdom, United States, Norway, Belgium, and Greece (184)
- Czech Republic, Canada, New Zealand, Malta and Australia (183)
- Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovakia (181)
Above are some of the highly ranked passports in the universe. So, research to know more about them to help determine which is the best one for you. Also, European countries like Germany might be strict, especially when applying for the passport. So, ensure you get Europe standard photo size – 35x45mm when applying to help the application to be approved.
