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10 most powerful passports in the world, revealed

Most powerful passports around the world. Source: Getty Images
Most powerful passports around the world. Source: Getty Images

There are new leaders in the world’s passport ranks, with Asia demonstrating its growing power and influence over the world.

Singapore and South Korea have moved up the list to join Japan and hold the joint top spot on the Henley Passport Index list, with visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 189 countries around the world.

The German passport takes second place alone, up from third, with access to 188 countries, while five countries – Denmark, Finland, France, Italy and Sweden – share third place on the index with access to 187 countries.

The UK and the US look increasingly unlikely to regain the top spot they jointly held in 2015, sitting in fifth and sixth place respectively.

The UK’s Brexit process has not yet had a marked effect on the country’s standing on the index, the index said, given its fall from the third place it held in 2016 is a result of gains made by Asian countries, and not a direct consequence of Brexit.

Where does Australia place?

Ninth.

Australia sits alongside New Zealand and Iceland in the ninth spot on the index, thanks to our passports giving access to 181 countries around the world.

This is however a drop from seventh place on the index in 2018.

Who sits at the bottom?

Afghanistan and Iraq remain at the bottom of the ranking with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to just 30 destinations, a position one or both countries have occupied throughout the index’s 14-year history.

Here are the top 10

The world’s most powerful passports. Source: Henley Passport Index
The world’s most powerful passports. Source: Henley Passport Index

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