March 04, 2023: The world has become more accessible to many passport holders as the last few coronavirus-related border closures are lifted. Meanwhile, since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, many nations have dropped visa requirements for Ukrainian passport holders. In turn, many countries have stopped issuing visas to Russian citizens and banned Russian airlines from using their airspace.
After considering all that, the United Arab Emirates passport is currently the strongest passport in the world, with visa-free or visa-upon-arrival access to 181 destinations. This makes it the strongest in the world, according to Arton Capital’s Passport Index, a ranking of the world’s passports in order of the number of destinations their holders can access without obtaining a visa prior to arrival.
Arton Capital’s Passport Index updates its rankings in real-time as new visa waivers and changes are implemented, showing the current effects that COVID-19 travel bans and the war in Ukraine have on global mobility right now.
Here’s how 2023’s most powerful passports in the world rank:
1. United Arab Emirates (181 destinations)
2. Germany, France, Switzerland, etc.(174 destinations)
3. United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, etc. (173 destinations)
4. Australia, Canada, Japan, etc. (172 destinations)
Singapore with 171 destinations on the 5th ranking, Malaysia with 167 destinations on the 9th ranking, India with 70 destinations on the 72nd ranking, and Sri Lanka with 55 destinations on 87 th ranking. These rankings show the significant rebound in mobility worldwide that’s happened since the pandemic began.
