Powerful passports are decided by the number of countries a passport holder could visit without a prior visa. According to the latest edition of “The Henley Passport Index”, Singapore passport is crowned as the most powerful.
A person with a Singaporean passport can travel to 195 countries without a visa. Following Singapore are countries like France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain. All these countries share the number 2 position with visa-free travel in 192 countries.
Australia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea and Sweden share the number 3 rank with visa-free travel in 191 countries. The USA, which once topped the charts (2014) is now settled at 8 place and can travel 186 countries without a prior visa. Meanwhile, India, though better than the last two years, is now ranked below countries like Maldives, Uganda and Zimbabwe. At 82nd position Indian passport holders can travel to 58 countries without a visa. In the top 10 ranked countries only the United Arab Emirates (UAE) allows Indian passport holders a visa on arrival for 14 days. India in 2013 achieved its best rank at 74.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan continues to fare as the world’s weakest passport, with its citizens only being accepted by 26 destinations worldwide without a visa.
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia took out the five lowest spots after Afghanistan, with visa-free access scores of 28, 31, 33, 33, and 35 respectively.
Venezuela, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, and Bangladesh are among the nations that have seen the most significant decline in passport power over the past 10 years, brought on largely by political turmoil, deteriorating economic conditions and civil instability.
