Whether you seek to explore distant lands, or you just want to sit on a remote island beach with a margarita, your passport can be your biggest travel asset. The right document grants you visa-free access to over 150+ countries, and makes applying for entry to the other places a short and easy afterthought.
But, as Visual Cpitalist's Jeff Desjardins notes, a passport can also be your biggest liability. Having a passport from the wrong place means travel is extremely restricted to just a few countries – and these are generally not the places travelers want to go, anyways.
Even worse, passports on the lower end of the spectrum are also heavily scrutinized at entry-points around the world. If you have a document from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, or several other countries, there may be many hoops for you to jump through to get to your final destination.
Source: Visual Capitalist
THE MOST POWERFUL PASSPORT
According to the Passport Index, the distinction for the world’s most powerful passport actually ends up as a tie between Germany and Singapore. Both have unparalleled access to visa-free entries, each with a list of 159 countries that citizens can go to without any hassles.
Like Germany, most other Western European nations do similarly well in the visa-free department:
In Asia, however, things are quite different. After Singapore and a few other countries (Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia), things drop off faster.
Further down the list in Asia, citizens of certain countries find themselves in even a tougher place, especially if they reside in the Middle East. Countries like Afghanistan (22), Pakistan (25), Iraq (26), Syria (30), and Bangladesh (35) have some of the shortest lists of visa-free countries that citizens have access to.
NORTH AMERICA
In North America, the United States and Canada both have powerful passports with 157 and 155 visa-free options respectively.
However, they differ in a few key areas. Americans have visa-free access to Armenia, Equatorial Guinea, Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Central African Republic, while Canadians have visa-free access to Bolivia, Venezuela, and Gambia.
DON’T OWN THESE PASSPORTS…
We alluded earlier to the fact that a passport can also be a traveler’s biggest liability.Here are some of the countries that you would likely not want to have a passport from:
Source : ZeroHedge
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Good post, Thanks for this info
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Nice statistics. Would have cost you some time for sure.
I love this post. I am a U.S. citizen currently traveling in Spain, but I have UK residency and live in the UK. My 5 month old baby son has a U.S. passport, a Spanish passport and in about 6 months he will be able to get a UK passport as well. I wonder how that stacks up against the German passport.
I posted these photos today of my trip to Spain. What do you think?
SPAIN IS BEAUTIFUL
Just don't declare them to the others then! You can not have Spanish and British duo nationality!
USA!
Waoow its nice to see that Germany & Singapore (Asia) top the list, i wish canda or usa will be on top
There are some countries that you wouldn't really expect high up there.
My passport says: "This document belongs to the Dutch government". So technically, I don't own a passport at all. But when I want a new one, the government makes me pay for it anyway😑
Where is good ol australia....found it...global rank #6 nice one straya!
Cool post & a lot of info! 👍 As an Aussie traveler I'm glad I haven't had to worry about visas much. Had to jump through a few hoops to get visas for China & Egypt, but no real hassles. I feel for the people with more restrictive passports... Maybe one day humanity will become a bit more equitable.. 😞
Finland has pretty good passport, wish I had more money so I could actually use it ! :D
That's lot of information, thank you!!
I never would have guessed that Germany would have been the #1. Interesting to see that. I have my passport and I am glad that I was able and still able to travel to places that I enjoy. I stay away from those restricted passport areas.
What a wonderful post, I am just very sad that there is no balkan countryes!
It depends upon where you want to go to and from where. I have held a US Passport my whole life. I live in Central America. I have been advised by my lawyer that I should consider taking out my Passport from Costa Rica for Central/ South American travel, as the US passport is frowned upon in many parts of the world.
Unfortunately this will change within the next years
Very neat. Info that I would've never known prior to... thanks!
This is very interesting to see who is allowed to go where in the world. The more 3rd world countries have less access
Damn it, Austria is not even on the list :-(
You're #6 :P
This is a great info graph. I wasn't aware i have so many visa free options.
This is something I hadn't considered. It really makes you think how privileged you are if you have one of the better ranked passports. Thank for for the interesting info!
Crying.. Why no country from Africa naa? Crying again
Still hoping for the best
You could do a post on the difficulty of getting the top 5 passports. Then again, with sufficient money, any kind of passport can be bought.
I wish someday we will not need visa to travel ... When all people will be treated fairly and equally
interesting - i wonder how Australia rates ? i am now following you
Awesome post, thanks so much!
While helping refugees in the Middle East, we made a lot of friends from Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan. After hearing their horror stories about trying to flee their countries, I'm not surprised their passports are ranked #92-94.
Nice I have german and Australian ! Thanks for the great info !
Malaysia not bad
most powerful passport in this world is SWEDEN thats what it said in Australia news.
Great info! I was surprised to see that the German passport was the most desirable.
Shizen!
Thanks for this important information.
Yay... Singapore
I recently read that the Sweeden passport is the best passport in this comparison. Maybe it's connected to the economic standard and governmental system but yea German and the US passport are treasure. My country still only Shengen area and couple of other countries like Israel etc. I guess we'll be having more travelling freedom once we join the EU 2020 hopefully. Thanks for these informations.
My guess was USA and Germany, basically the two main economic power houses right now
Do the people over at Zerohedge know you are reposting all their content for your own benefit?
Are you an employee of ABC Media, LTD?
I'm just curious.
i'm from Singapore! Yay <3
I can't do much travelling with my Kenyan passport. Always need a visa especially to the western countries. Visa approval scrutiny is just ridiculous. Thanks for sharing
Great post! Had to google our passport :D, looks like our little country Slovenia is powerful too :D. Actually every big country except Russia and China give us at least 90 days, we are even in the ESTA system of the United States of America, good to know :)
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Great info on passport options. Often the best one to have is the one that is not your original country nor the one in which you reside. Of course, the US passport comes with a lot of strings attached, so make sure you're willing to become the property of US Inc before signing the line (if you have a ss#, you already are, so might as well get the passport).
How come Latin American passports were left off the list? Oceania is missing too. There are some good options there.
Glad to know that I'm carrying the world's most powerful passport, now please help me make some money so I can actually use it to travel ;)
Never thought about the status of a passport. New information. Thank you. 🐓🐓
Thanks for the info. Here in Venezuela is restricted obtaining the passport because there is no material to make them. :( From Venerzuela @gaborey07
Bingo! One of the greatest passport in Asia: Malaysia! Proud!
Nice post! Its good to see how each country fares, and realise how much is so easy on visas! Honestly, I can't wait for governments to realise human is simply that, human.
As russel brand once said 'to me, an immigrant is just somebody who used to be somewhere else.' Hopefully one day thats how it will be and no passports needed. Until then, at least they make incredible momentos of travel and the adventures that were taken with them. Thanks for sharing!
How would you suggest the people who have them not own them?
Or was that advice to not rush out and get one?
Yes Germany all the way!! #represent #represent
Wow I had no idea. Thanks so much for taking the time to package this info together and share it! Look forward to seeing more from you!