World

Japan’s Passport Ranked As The World’s Strongest Passport

Japanese passport holders can enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations

The latest 2018 Henley Passport Index has ranked Japan’s passport as the world’s strongest passport, giving Japanese passport holders a chance to enjoy the most visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to the most destinations at 190. Japan has overtaken Singapore in terms of the most powerful passport. Singapore currently stands second in the list with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 189 destinations.

Germany, South Korea, and France follow at third with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 188 destinations.

Henley Passport Index ranks all passports in the world on the basis of the number of countries its holders can visit visa-free. The ranking is based on data collected from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

“The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of travel information, and is enhanced by extensive in-house research,” the official Henley Passport Index website reads.

The rest of the top 10 list includes Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and Spain sharing the fourth spot and Austria, Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Portugal, United Kingdom and the United States sitting on the fifth position.

The sixth rank is shared by Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, and Canada.  Australia, Greece, and Malta share the seventh rank with New Zealand and the Czech Republic sharing the eight position. Rounding off the top 10 list is Iceland at ninth and Hungary, Slovenia and Malaysia at the tenth spot.

Elsewhere, UAE is the most powerful passport in the Middle East, it has made the most remarkable jump on the Henley Passport Index, coming to the 21st place, up from 62nd place in 2006. China slipped two places to 71. India has secured the 81st spot on the Index, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 60 destinations. Iraq and Afghanistan rank the lowest on the Index.

Caroline Finnegan

A professionnal journalist for the past ten years, I cover global news and economic affairs for The Chief Observer.

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