Singapore now has the ‘most powerful’ passport in the world

Yep, you heard right. The Little Red Dot now has the “most powerful” passport on the globe, thanks to Paraguay removing its visa requirements for Singapore. With a visa-free score of 159, Singapore nudged Germany out of the way to become the first Asian country to hold the world’s most powerful passport, according to the passport index by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital.

In the past, the top ten most powerful passports were mostly from Europe, with Germany taking the top spot for the last two years. But since early 2017, Singapore has tied with Germany for first place on the list.

Until now, that is.

The index, which considers the passports of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories, ranks them by their cross-border access, giving each one a “visa-free score” based on the number of countries they can visit without a visa, or with one upon arrival.

Elsewhere on the list, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia represent the rest of the Asian passports in the top 20, while the US passport has dropped in ranking after President Donald Trump took office. Most recently, US passport holders saw their visa-free status to Turkey and the Central African Republic revoked, and the country now takes sixth place with a score of 154.

Here’s a look at the top 10 scores on the passport index.

1. Singapore (159)

2. Germany (158)

3. Sweden, South Korea (157)

4. Denmark, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, Japan, United Kingdom (156)

5. Luxembourg, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal (155)

6. Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, United States of America (154)

7. Austria, Greece, New Zealand (153)

8. Malta, Czech Republic, Iceland (152)

9. Hungary (150)

10. Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia (149)