'Most powerful' passports in the world
Passport Index is an interactive tool, which collects, displays and ranks the passports of the world. You can discover the world’s passports on a map, by country name, by Passport Power Rank and even by the color of their cover. Passports are ranked based on their Visa Free Score. The higher the Visa Free Score, the better the Passport Power Rank. The country list is based on the 193 UN member countries and 6 territories (Macao, Kosovo, etc.) for a total of 199. Territories annexed to other countries such as Norfolk Island, French Polynesia, etc. are excluded. Most countries require foreigners to get visas before entry, but some passports allow visa purchase at the airport, or don’t require a visa at all. Some countries’ passport holders need to apply months in advanced for a visa for travel, and the allowed time period can range from two weeks to two years. Financial advisory firm Arton Capital created a passport index that allows you to sort passports for countries around the world by a “passport power rank.” The ranking is calculated by how many countries passport holders can visit without an advance visa, or by purchasing a visa on arrival. The ranking puts the U.S. and U.K. passports first, giving access to 147 countries without an advanced visa. France, South Korea and Germany are second, with access to 145 countries, followed by Italy and Sweden in third; Denmark, Singapore, Finland, Japan, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in fourth; and Switzerland in fifth. The least desirable passports according to this ranking are from the Solomon Islands, Myanmar, South Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe and the Palestinian Territories. They rank in 80th place, giving access to just 20 countries each without an advance visa. The site also allows you to sort passports by location and by color. While the color grouping doesn’t have any obvious purpose, it’s strangely satisfying to see the world’s passports grouped into collections of red, blue, green and black.
