Introduction
Passport is an essential traveling item that can make your trip easier or harder. This, on the other hand, depends on the strength of your passport. Stronger your passport is more countries you can visit without a visa or with just a simple visa-waiver. But what makes the difference in Passport Strength? Why does some countries have strong passports and some don’t? – Well, this depends on certain country’s political and economic situation. For example, countries with large economies and political stability usually have the strongest passports in the world, whereas countries who have political or economic hardships, often find themselves on the bottom of that list. In this article we will reveal five strongest and weakest passports in the world and explain why they hold these spots.
What Are the Strongest Passports in the World?
Each passport has its mobility index. This index is an annual power ranking for passports based on the number of destinations that a passport holder is allowed to enter without a visa. It is based upon data from the International Air Transport Authority and includes almost 200 passports.
Some of the Strongest passports are issued by the strongest countries in the world:
- Japan – has the strongest passport in the world, with the ability to enter 193 countries without a visa.
- Singapure and South Korea – Each of these countries issue the second strongest passports in the world, with the ability to enter 192 countries without a visa.
- Germany and Spain – Third place, as well as the following places, are occupied by several European Passports. If you have either German or Spanish Passports, well, congratulations you can enter 190 countries visa-free.
- Finland, Italy, Luxembourg – These three passports enable you to travel to 189 countries without any hassle.
- Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands – These countries score quite good scores as well, allowing you to visit 188 countries in the world visa free.
What Are the Weakest Passports in the World?
This list includes some of the most troubled countries in the world. These countries have very little political and economic stability, as well as peaceful political relations with the neighbors.
- Yemen – One of the weakest passports in the world is issued by war-torn country Yemen. There has been the civil war going on for decades already, resulting in the considerable weakness of Yemeni passport. It allows you to travel to only 34 countries visa-free.
- Pakistan – Pakistan is another country that scores one of the weakest passports in the world. Pakistani passport will allow you to only 32 countries without a visa.
- Syria – Yet another war-torn country Syria has been in civil war since 2010. Currently most of the Western countries don’t even recognize its government as a legitimate one. Therefore, it is not a surprise that Syrian passport goes without a visa in only 30 countries.
- Iraq – Iraq has the second weakest passport in the world, scoring only 29 visa-free countries.
- Afghanistan – Afghanistan has the weakest passport in the world. It allows the holder to visit only 27 countries in the world without a visa.
Conclusion
The strength of the passport depends on many criteria, but the most important among them is political and economic stability. Stronger your passport is, more possibilities you have to travel around the world, while weaker passports provide less chance of doing so. The list of the strongest passports change every year, but the lead usually wobbles between the top 5.
