New stats from the World Economic Forum have revealed that Japan, Singapore and South Korea all share top spot on the list of the most powerful passports in the world.
The three countries took out pole position thanks to their visa-free access to 189 countries, closely followed in second place by Germany (188).
The United Arab Emirates is one of the fastest growers in the index, up to 21st from 61st ten years ago. It now offers visa-free access to 165 destinations.
While at the other end of the scale Iraq is joint last (130th), joining Afghanistan. Both countries offer visa-free access to just 30 countries. Syria, Somalia, and Pakistan offer one of the least powerful passports, offering visa-free access to just 32 and 33 countries respectively.
Ireland holds a prominent spot on the list, coming in at 6th position with visa free access to 184 countries alongside the United States, Belgium, Canada and Greece.
Here's the full top ten:
1. Japan, Singapore, South Korea
2. Germany
3. Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Sweden
4. Luxembourg, Spain
5. Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom
6. United States, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland
7. Czech Republic
8. Malta
9. Australia, Iceland, New Zealand
10. Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia
The list comes from the Henley Passport Index which looked at data provided by the International Air Transport Authority and open-source data.
Researchers compiled 199 passports and 277 travel destinations, and based on those numbers it created an index of the most (and least) powerful passports in the word.
