Five years after the summit, Singapore has toppled Japan as the world’s most powerful passport, with its citizens able to visit 193 destinations worldwide without a visa, with the two Arab countries at the bottom of the list.
And Asia has long dominated the list of the world’s most powerful passports Indicator Global citizenship and residency consultancy Henley & Partners moved up to second place with Germany, Italy and Spain being able to travel to 190 destinations without a prior visa.
Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden are the third most powerful passports, and holders of these countries’ nationalities can travel to 189 countries without a “visa”.
Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Britain are ranked fourth in the National Passport Strength Index (188 countries), followed by Belgium, the Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland with 187, according to the firm’s data.
Canada and Greece are fifth with 185 places, followed by Lithuania and the United States, which have fallen two places with 184 places, after topping the list in 2014, followed by Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia with 183 places, followed by Estonia and Iceland with 182.
The Henley Passport Index is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ranks 199 passports from around the world, whose strength is updated in real time throughout the year as any changes take effect.
Ranking of Arab countries
Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria came in at the bottom of the index as the world’s three weakest passports, as the first passport allows entry to only 27 countries without a visa.
The Iraqi passport allows entry to only 29 countries without a “visa”, and Syria accepts it for 30.
The UAE continues to lead the list of Arab countries in passport strength as its citizens can enter 179 countries without a prior visa, followed by Qatar with a total of 103 and then Kuwait with 99.
Bahrain ranks fourth in the Arab world on the Passport Index, with a total of 88, followed by Oman with 85, followed by Saudi Arabia with 83.
Tunisia ranks seventh in the Arab world with a total of (71) places, followed by Morocco (67), followed by Algeria and Egypt (54).
A Jordanian passport allows entry to 53 countries, Sudan to 44, Lebanon (43), Libya (41), Palestinian Territories (38), Somalia and Yemen (35).
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