World News
Henley Passport Index Releases 2018 Statistics and Here are the Top 10 Most Powerful Passports in the World
The Henley Passport Index measures how powerful the national identifications are based on how many countries citizens can access without a visa. The index is based on data collected through the International Air Transport Association.
If you have citizenship in Sweden, you have a great deal of traveling power — Swedes can fly to 187 countries without a visa. This makes international travel cheaper and easier than it is for citizens of many other countries.
Third place is shared by South Korea, Finland, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden, allowing visa-free travel to 187 countries.
The worst passports are from Afghanistan and Iraq where citizens can only travel to 30 countries without needing a visa.
These stark differences are revealed in the Passport Index, which ranks countries based on the number of nations where residents can enter without a visa or obtain a visa on arrival. The citizenship planning firm Henley & Partners compiled government data from 200 nations, territories, and micro-states to create the 2018 ranking.
Here are the 10 countries with the highest-ranking passports.
In its latest ranking, Japan takes the top spot with the country’s passport-holders being able to access 189 other nations without a visa.
These are the countries that made the top 10 list: Download Full List Here
- Japan (189)
- Germany, Singapore (188)
- Finland, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Sweden (187)
- Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States (186)
- Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland (185)
- Greece, Australia (183)
- Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand (182)
- Iceland (181)
- Hungary, Slovenia, Malaysia (180)
- Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia (179)
64. Thailand Ranked 64th with visa free access to 76 Countries
Why Global Mobility Matters Today
As the world economy has become increasingly globalized, the need for greater visa-free access has grown steadily. Across the economic spectrum, individuals want to transcend the constraints imposed on them by their country of origin and access business, financial, career, and lifestyle opportunities on a global scale.
Wealthy individuals in particular are more cosmopolitan and transnational today than ever before, with roots, networks, assets, properties, and even citizenship spanning multiple countries. In many ways, global connectivity has become an indispensable feature of wealth creation and wealth preservation, and its value will only grow as regional volatility and instability increase.
