Singapore’ passport has fallen to the second place in the 2018 Passport Index, behind the United Arab Emirates passport as the world’s most powerful passport.
Global financial advisory firm Arton Capital ranks the world’s passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a score to each nation’s passport according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.
According to the 2018 index, the United Arab Emirates’ passport earned a score of 167 as holders of the Emirati passport can visit 113 countries visa-free and 54 countries with a visa on arrival.
The UAE is the only middle-eastern country in the top 20. Two years ago, the UAE passport had a visa-free score of 122, placing it in the 27th position. In 2017, the points rose to 132 and the country took the fourth place with a score of 162 in October earlier this year.
The country made a great effort to be the best by launching the UAE Passport Force initiative.
Meanwhile, in the second place, the republic earned 166 points as the passport grants visa-free travel to 127 countries and there are 39 countries where holders of a Singapore passport require a visa on arrival.
Germany also scored 166. However, the country only grants visa-free travel to 126 countries, one fewer than Singapore passport holders.
However, Singapore continues to rank the highest among Asian countries. Japan and South Korea came close to Singapore at 3rd with a score of 165. Malaysia came in 7th with a score of 161 while Indonesia ranks 57th with a score of 76. While, China ranks 58th with a score of 75.
