Singapore Passport is One of The Most Powerful in The World

The Singapore passport and Japanese passport was tied at first place last year for easy access globally to a number of countries.

Currently, the Japanese passport allows access to 191 countries visa-free or with visa-on-arrival, beating the Singapore passport by 1 after easier access to Saudi Arabia.

Singapore’s passport is now ranked 2nd at 190, followed by South Korea and Germany in 3rd place at 189.

Prior to this, both countries were tied at 1st place with a score of 190, followed by Germany, South Korea and Finland with a score of 188.

Henley & Partners is the firm tabulating the Henley index which shows the number of countries a passport can gain easy access to without a prior visa.

According to Henley & Partners, the United States and United Kingdom were tied at 8th place in 2015, allowing them easy access to 184 countries. However they have seen a significant decline behind 16 countries.

The ability to travel freely is a sign of mobility as a permanent condition of global life. Citizens of passports that allow easy access to a number of countries enjoy the ever-increasing passport power and benefits that entail.

“Global mobility gap is the starkest it has been since the index’s inception in 2006” - Henley & Partners.

At present, the Japanese passport allows access to 165 more countries than an Afghanistan passport which rounds out the table at 199th place, allowing only easy access to 26 countries visa-free or visa-on-arrival.