Japan Fails to Retain No.1 Spot in Passport Power... South Korea Ranks 3rd

1st Place is Singapore... North Korea Ranks 102nd

South Korea ranked 3rd in the world for the most powerful passports. Japan, which had held the top spot for the past five years, dropped to a tie for 3rd place with South Korea after Singapore took the 1st place position.

On the 18th (local time), Bloomberg reported that Singapore ranked 1st with a score of 192 in the "Passport Index" released by investment immigration firm Henry & Partners. Singapore’s score of 192 means its passport holders can travel visa-free to 192 out of 227 regions worldwide.

Henry & Partners has been ranking passports since 2006 by quantifying how many regions a passport holder can visit visa-free, based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). A higher ranking indicates that citizens holding that country’s passport can travel more freely around the world.

[Image source=Pixabay]

Bloomberg stated, "Wealthy Chinese are flocking to Singapore amid increased regulations on domestic private companies and rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China," adding, "Singapore, with a population of 5.6 million, granted citizenship to about 23,100 people last year." As Singapore’s popularity rises and it emerges as an Asian hub replacing Hong Kong, its passport power appears to have strengthened as well.

In 2nd place were countries whose passports allow visa-free access to 190 countries, including ▲Germany ▲Italy ▲Spain. The 3rd place was shared by countries whose passports allow visa-free access to 189 countries, including ▲South Korea ▲Austria ▲Finland ▲France ▲Japan ▲Luxembourg ▲Sweden. The South Korean passport was once ranked 13th in 2013 but has maintained a top-tier position, fluctuating between 1st and 3rd place since 2018.

The country with the least powerful passport was Afghanistan, with visa-free access to only 27 countries. Iraq had access to 29 countries, and Syria to 30, placing them at the bottom of the rankings. North Korea ranked 102nd, with only 40 countries allowing entry with its passport.