Greece has once again made it into the top 10 most powerful passports.
New research produced by the Henley Passport Index has revealed the Greek passport is the 6th most powerful globally, allowing visa-free access to 183 countries, alongside the UK, USA, Norway (down from fifth), Belgium, Canada and Ireland.
Remaining at the top of the rankings are Japan and Singapore, with citizens permitted to visit 189 countries visa-free.
A close second is the South Korean passport, which dropped from the top spot with 187 countries, together with Germany and Finland, which is up from third.
The Australian passport also made it into the top 10, coming in ninth, alongside New Zealand, Iceland and Lithuania.
Meanwhile the United Arab Emirates was named in the top 20 for the first time, with access to over 167 countries visa-free – a number that has more than doubled over the past five years.
The world’s least powerful passport is that held by citizens of Afghanistan, who only have access to 25 countries.
TOP 10
- Japan, Singapore
- South Korea, Germany, Finland
- Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (up from fourth)
- France (down from third), Sweden (down from third), Spain
- Austria, Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland
- Greece, UK, USA, Norway, Belgium, Canada, Ireland
- Malta
- Czech Republic
- Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Lithuania
- Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia
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The ranking system was started 14 years ago by Dr Christian H Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners, and is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
“This latest research appears to confirm something that many of us already knew intuitively,” Dr Kaelin said.
“Increased visa-openness benefits the entire global community, and not just the strongest countries.”