New number one
Japan no longer has the most powerful passport in the world – Germany is rising
The German passport offers visa-free access to 189 countries
© Zoonar / Imago Images
The German passport is the second most powerful in the world: 189 countries can be traveled with it. There was a change at the top of the ranking.
Passports are irrelevant within the European Union, and only an ID card is required for travel between countries, if at all. But if you want to go further away, you have to find out about the respective visa requirements of the country.
However, German citizens are in a comfortable situation: They can enter 190 countries without a visa, it is sufficient to present your passport. This puts Germany in second place in the world rankings – together with Italy and Spain. This is the result of the worldwide passport ranking that the British consulting firm “Henley & Partners” has been publishing regularly since 2006. The evaluation is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Passport ranking: Singapore ousts Japan
Only a passport is stronger in the whole world: People from Singapore are allowed to travel to 192 out of 227 countries with their document. The Asian city-state has thus ousted Japan from the top of the ranking. When the index was published earlier this year, Japan had 193 countries, now there are only 189. This puts the country in third place, which it shares with Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden.
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The USA, which was still at the top of the rankings in 2014, fell to eighth place and, according to “Henley & Partners”, is longer than it has ever been since the list was drawn up – according to experts, this is a result of the relatively restrictive visa regulations in the U.S. However, the freedom to travel around the world has increased significantly over the past decade.
At the bottom of the ranking is Afghanistan again. Citizens of the country are only allowed to enter 27 countries with their passport. For Iraqis this possibility exists in 29, for Syrians in 30 countries.
Source: Henley & Partners
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