Traveling the globe has become easier and more inexpensive than ever, with flight prices decreasing everywhere. You can get anywhere with just a few hundred dollars and a natural curiosity for the world around you.
One of the most important tools for traveling is a passport. Some passports are stronger than others, in terms of how many countries you can travel to visa-free. Every year the Quality of Nationality Index, produced by Henley and Partners, ranks the strength of each country’s passports, based on visa-free travel.
A score of 100 is the best and 1 is the worst. As you can see below, in the list of top 22 passports of the world, Germany ranks number one as the most powerful. German citizens can travel to 176 of the possible 218 countries visa-free. The U.S. is ranked 13th, while Canada didn’t make it onto the list.
Here is the list of the 22 strongest passports in the world:
- Germany: 100.0
- Sweden: 99.5
- Finland: 99.1
- Spain: 99.1
- Italy: 99.0
- France: 99.0
- United Kingdom: 98.9
- Belgium: 98.5
- Netherlands: 98.5
- Denmark: 98.4
- Japan: 98.4
- Singapore: 98.3
- United States of America: 98.3
- Norway: 98.0
- Luxembourg: 97.9
- Austria: 97.9
- Switzerland: 97.4
- Portugal: 97.4
- Ireland: 97.3
- New Zealand: 97.3
- South Korea: 97.0
- Greece: 96.8
Some countries that didn’t make this shortlist still made some large jumps. This includes Peru (which jumped up 15 spots), the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Kiribati, and Tuvalu, which all jumped up at least 9 places.
Countries that lost ranking include Brazil, China, India, South Africa, Russia, and Ghana.
You can upgrade your own ability to travel the world visa-free by obtaining a second passport. Every country has a different policy for doing so, but most require you to gain citizenship in the country. Many countries offer deals in which you can gain citizenship through investment. Others require you to spend a certain amount of time in the country as a resident.
About the Author
Daniel Wilhelm, an American business development consultant, has lived in Lisbon since 2017. His journey started on the shores of Nicaragua and eventually took him to the coast of Portugal. Dan and his wife enjoy traveling to lesser-known parts of the world, when they are not catering to their chow chow, Olivia.
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