Japan overtakes Singapore to claim world's most powerful passport

[David48atTD]

Japan now has the most powerful passport in the world in terms of travel freedom, according to the 2018 Henley Passport Index.

Key points:

• Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan sit at the bottom of the list
• UAE now ranked first in the Middle East region
• Kosovo's EU access could be dampened by rise of far-right populism

Japanese citizens can enter without a visa or get a visa on arrival to 190 countries, overtaking Singapore, which enjoys visa-free access to 189 countries.

Germany, France and South Korea tied in third, with a group of European nations — Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden and Spain — in hot pursuit.
The United Kingdom and the United States slid down into the fifth spot with other European countries, followed by Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland and Canada in sixth position.

Australia tied for seventh with Malta and Greece.

The index ranks each passport by assessing how easy it is to enter other countries, using data from the International Air Transport Association.

Thailand was in a photo finish with Belarus in 68^th position on the grid

https://www.henleyglobal.com/henley-passport-index/
https://www.henleyglobal.com/files/d...L%20181008.pdf

[jabir]

Numbers can be deceptive. If Jap and Sing are 1 and 2 with Germany, France and South Korea tied in 3rd and Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden and Spain in hot pursuit, then the UK and US share 11th spot, not 5th, and Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland and Canada share 13th, while Oz, Malta and Greece lag in 18th.