Greece may have been hit hard these past few years and have its image of a developed country shaken, but it still has one of the strongest passports in the world.
According to the annual index issued by global advisory firm Arton Capital, the Greek passport ranks seventh, alongside those of Australia and New Zealand. On the top of the list stands Singapore, which can claim to having having the strongest passport in the world, allowing its holders to enter 159 countries (more than any other country) either without a need for a visa or with a visa on arrival. Singapore passport holders can enter countries like China, Cuba and Brazil visa-free, something that US passport holders cannot do.
Second in the Arton Capital index is Germany with 158 countries, followed by Sweden and North Korea, which share the third place (157 countries). The fourth place is crowded with Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain and the UK, which all have passports that can allow holders to enter 156 countries. Equally crowded in fifth place are Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland passports, which allow for entry to 155 countries. Canada, Ireland, Malaysia and the US rank sixth (154 countries). Greece, Australia and New Zealand rank seventh (153 countries), Iceland, Malta and the Czech Republic share the eighth place (152 countries), while Hungary stands alone in the ninth place (150 countries). The top-10 list is completed with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, which all allow passport holders to enter 149 countries.
Overall 35 countries appear on the top 10 stronger passport list, the majority of which (i.e. 26) are European countries, continuing the historical tradition. However, this is the first time that an Asian country has made the top spot.