The United Arab Emirates passport is currently the most powerful passport in the world, with visa-free or visa-upon-arrival access to 174 destinations. This makes it the strongest in the world, according to Arton Capital’s Passport Index, a ranking of the world’s passports in order of the number of destinations their holders can access without obtaining a visa prior to arrival.
Arton Capital’s Passport Index updates its rankings in real time as new visa waivers and changes are implemented, showing the current effects that COVID-19 travel bans and the war in Ukraine have on global mobility right now.
11 countries trail behind the UAE in joint second place with visa-free access to 170 destinations currently: Germany, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and South Korea. Third place is a nine-way tie among Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Japan, Ireland, United States of America, and New Zealand with access to 169 destinations each.
Afghanistan is currently at the bottom of the rankings at 88th place with access to only 36 destinations. Syria and Iraq ranked only slightly higher with access to 38 and 39 destinations, respectively.
Here’s how 2022’s most powerful passports in the world rank:
1. United Arab Emirates (174 destinations)
2. Germany, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, South Korea (170 destinations)
3. Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Japan, Ireland, United States of America, New Zealand (169 destinations)
4. Malta, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, United Kingdom, Australia (168 destinations)
5. Singapore, Lithuania, Slovakia, Canada (167 destinations)
6. Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia (166 destinations)
7. Liechtenstein (165 destinations)
8. Cyprus, Iceland, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria (164 destinations)
9. Malaysia (162 destinations)
10. Brazil, Monaco (160 destinations)
Sven Franssen