There’s a New Most Powerful Passport in the World for 2019

Last we checked, Canada had the 4th-most powerful passport in the world. That remains true for 2019.

But there’s a new number one this year, and it might come as a surprise: The United Arab Emirates, which didn’t crack the top 10 last year.

The ranking is determined by the annual Passport Index, which scores the influence of a country’s passport based on just one metric: mobility. That is, how many other countries can citizens of one country travel to without a visa.

Citizens of the UAE are able to travel visa-free to 167 countries in the world (in 54 of those countries they can apply for a visa on arrival). Canadians, meanwhile, are able to visit 164 countries without first applying for a visa. Interestingly, the generosity isn’t reciprocal. Canada requires citizens of all but 54 countries to have a visa before granting entry, making it just the 74th-most welcoming country in the world.

Last year’s strongest passport, Germany, dropped into a two-way tie for second despite five countries being added to its visa-free travel allowance.

Here’s the top 10:

  1. 1. United Arab Emirates
    2. Singapore, Germany
    3. Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, South Korea and USA
    4. Belgium, Austria, Japan, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Ireland, Canada and United Kingdom
    5. Czech Republic and Hungary
    6. Malta, Iceland, New Zealand
    7. Malaysia, Slovenia, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Latvia and Australia
    8. Estonia
    9. Romania and Bulgaria
    10. Cyprus and Liechtenstein

Afghanistan finds itself at the bottom of the list, allowing citizens to travel to only 29 countries without a visa. Iraq and Pakistan round out the bottom three.