Singapore has overtaken Japan to boast of the world’s most powerful passport, the Henley Passport Index showed.
What it means is that the Singapore passport allows holders visa-free entry to 192 destinations out of 227 in the world.
The global passport ranking for 2023 was conducted based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority, or IATA, which ranks the world’s passports based on the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
Germany, Italy and Spain tied in second place, with their citizens being able to visit 190 global destinations.
Japan, which topped the list last year, slipped to third place — its passport allowing visa-free access to 189 destinations, down from 193 in 2022. Other passports that tied with Japan to rank third place are Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden.
The UK jumped up two places to come in fourth, having turned the corner after a six-year decline.
“The general trend over the history of the 18-year-old ranking has been towards greater travel freedom,” Henley and Partners said in a press release statement.
Singapore vs. U.S.
Singapore’s passport was also in first place in 2021 with access to 194 destinations, but the city state dipped to second place last year. In the past 10 years, Singapore has increased its score by 25, pushing the country up by five places to take the top spot, Henley and Partners added.
