The passport of each country gives its citizens a certain power – to travel to other countries. However, not all passports are equally powerful. That is because some offer a more limited freedom to move from country to country compared to others. This fact has inspired one quite curious study which examined namely the power of the different countries’ passports. The research was recently published by GOOD in the form of an informative map.
According to this study, the Emirati passport issued by the United Arab Emirates is the 56th most powerful in the world. With it, UAE citizens are either granted a visa-free access or receive a visa upon arrival in 72 countries located in various parts of the world. That means that the UAE passport is more powerful than that given by countries like China, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand or the Philippines. Citizens of the United Arab Emirates do not need a visa when they travel to countries like Colombia, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and many others. Also, they are given visa on arrival in Nepal, the Maldives, Indonesia and the list goes on.
However, the most powerful passports belong to citizens of Western countries and, more specifically, of Western Europeans or EU citizens. People from the U.K., Sweden and Finland enjoy the biggest freedom to travel, since they their passports gain them free access to 173… each. The Untied States, Denmark, Luxembourg and Germany will not need a visa or will be given visa upon arrival in 172 countries. Also, in the top ten are Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium with free access to 171 countries.
But not only the U.S. and Europe enjoy such a passport power. Many East Asian citizens also enjoy similar privileges. Japan lead because the country’s passport allows citizens to easily travel to 170 different countries. Not far behind are Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
Countries with the most powerful passports in the world:
- Finland (173 countries)
- Sweden (173 countries)
- United Kingdom (173 countries)
- Denmark (172 countries)
- Germany (172 countries)
- Luxembourg (172 countries)
- U.S.A. (172 countries)
- Belgium (171 countries)
- Italy (171 countries)
- Netherlands (171 countries)
At the very bottom of this ranking is Afghanistan. The country’s passport allows Afghan citizens for freely travel to less than 30 countries. But do not assume that only countries marked by war and turmoil fall in this category. China, for instance, is one of the strongest and fastest developing economies in the world. Despite that, the passports of Chinese citizens enable them to freely cross the borders of barely 43 countries.
