Singaporean Passport is the World’s Most Powerful Passport

Overtaking last year’s winner of the World’s Most Powerful Passports list – Germany – Singapore has topped the list this year, according to the Passport Index, leaving behind countries like the UK, the USA, and Australia. India ranks at 75th position.

Developed by international residence and citizenship advisory firm Arton Capital, the Passport Index is a free online interactive tool that sorts and ranks the world's passports by their cross-border access.

According to a survey carried out by the Passport Index, Singapore has been listed as the country to hone the most powerful passport in the world. It’s the first time an Asian country has had the honor to top the rank, thanks to a recent decision made by Paraguay.

Paraguay’s new citation to remove visa requirements for passport holders of this Asian city-state has enabled Singaporean passport holders to visit there without a visa, making Singapore’s passport score to 159. Prior to this decision, Singapore shared the first spot with Germany which has a score of 158 countries. "For the first time ever an Asian country has the most powerful passport in the world. It is a testament of Singapore's inclusive diplomatic relations and effective foreign policy," Philippe May, Managing Director of Arton Capital's Singapore office shared with AsiaOneNews.

South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia are some of the Asian countries that are included in top 20.

Simultaneously, it has been observed in the Passport Index statement that the US passport has fallen in rank ever since President Donald Trump took office, noting that Turkey and the Central African Republic were the most recent countries to revoke the visa-free status of US passport holders.

Here’s the list of top 10 scores and the corresponding countries with the most powerful passports: 1. Singapore: 159; 2. Germany: 158; 3. Sweden, South Korea: 157; 4. Denmark, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, United Kingdom: 156; 5. Luxembourg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal: 155; 6. Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, United States: 154; 7. Australia, Greece, New Zealand: 153; 8. Malta, Czech Republic, Iceland: 152; 9. Hungary: 150; and 10. Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia: 149.

Least powerful passports are the ones that offer the lowest mobility across the borders. And in the 2017 survey, coming in at last place on the updated Passport Index list is Afghanistan, which has a score of 22, followed by Pakistan & Iraq (26), Syria (29) and Somalia (34).

Arton Capital’s Managing Director further shared with AsiaOne News that "Small nations who are no threat to anyone as well as smart and open-minded nations, especially when there is a strong rule of law”, are the most likely to improve.

According to AsiaOne, Asia’s leading magazine, by analyzing the access national passports have to countries around the world, the Passport Index assigns a "visa-free score" – the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival. It also takes the UN Human Development Index into account.

As per the archives of AsiaOne Magazine, passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories – ROC Taiwan, Macao (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican – are considered for the index. Territories annexed to other countries are excluded.