A new study revealed the United States has the world’s most powerful passport. This ranking was based on travel mobility, investment opportunity and quality of life.
Immigration investment consultancy firm Global Citizen Solutions recently released its inaugural Global Passport Index. It scores the world’s passports via a quantitative scoring system across several criteria and categories.
The U.S. emerged as the world’s strongest passport with a total score of 96.4. For individual indexes, it ranked 4th in the investment index, 10th in the enhanced mobility index and 23rd in the quality-of-life index.
The other nations that made the Top Ten (in order) include Germany, Canada, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway and New Zealand. Here are their respective numbers:
| Ranking | Country | Enhanced Mobility Index | Investment Index | Quality of Living Index |
| 1 | United States | 10th | 4th | 23rd |
| 2 | Germany | 4th | 12th | 5th |
| 3 | Canada | 8th | 11th | 4th |
| 4 | The Netherlands | 8th | 17th | 6th |
| 5 | Denmark | 7th | 26th | 3rd |
| 6 | Sweden | 15th | 31st | 1st |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 32nd | 16th | 8th |
| 8 | Finland | 3rd | 40th | 2nd |
| 9 | Norway | 21st | 15th | 14th |
| 10 | New Zealand | 29th | 25th | 7th |
From Global Citizen Solutions:
For some, seeing the United States ranked as the most powerful passport in the world can come as a surprise. Can you explain how you came to this conclusion?
It is a matter of balance or well ranking in all three indices. The US is not the highest-ranked passport in any of the three. Comparing it with the best-placed passport in terms of mobility, Singapore, which also tops the ranking in terms of investment, we find that while the US is ranked 23rd in quality of life, Singapore is much lower, at 130th position. In Quality of Life, the US fares better than Singapore in all dimensions selected. For instance, a lower cost of living, and the Freedom in the World Report, one of the sources we use, classify Singapore as only partly free.
In the Quality of Life Index, the US is outranked mostly by European countries. However, having a passport well placed in terms of Enhanced mobility (10th place) and, most importantly, being the 4th best in the investment rank, it fares reasonably better in this index than any of the countries with better quality of life.
This page explains the full story of their rankings, and this one goes through their methodology.
The various websites that rank the power of each country’s passports do so via different criteria. Global Citizens Solutions’ is above; here are how numbers are determined on other sites:
- Arton Capital’s Passport Index, which ranks the U.S. passport as #5, is the original interactive passport ranking tool in the world. Its purpose is to showcase, educate and inform the public on the power passports transcend on the holder’s identity, opportunity, mobility and overall quality of life. It’s the only real-time global ranking of the world’s passports, updated as frequently as new visa waivers and changes are implemented. Data is based on official information provided by governments, updated in real-time with intelligence obtained through crowdsourcing and enhanced with proprietary research from highly credible sources.
- Henley & Partners ranks the U.S. passport at #7. They are global citizenship and residence advisory firm based in London, advise governments on residence and citizenship-by-investment policy and works with them to develop and implement residence and citizenship programs. They use exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) to determine their rankings.
- Visa Index, which ranks U.S. passports as #8 right now, assesses a passport’s rank by quantifying the number of countries a holder may enter without a visa. They evaluate each passport according to the degree of access it provides by calculating the number of countries that a passport holder can enter Visa-Free, Visa-On-Arrival, and Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA).
- Hudson’s Global Residence Index places the U.S. passport at #34. They base their ranking on whether or not a visa is required to enter the country, what the passport value and index is, if they allow dual citizenship, and what their length of stay for visitors is.
- Nomad Capitalists, which ranks the U.S. Passport as #41, takes into consideration travel ability, taxation, dual citizen ship, perception and freedom.
So as you can see, a country’s rank will vary considerably, depending upon what criteria one is looking at. Out of nearly 200 countries, the U.S. ranks anywhere from #1 to #41, depending on said criteria.
So which one is right? Whichever one works best with what criteria you’re looking for, of course! 😉
Seriously, most of these rankings are intended for people who are looking for dual citizenship, property investment, relocation, etc. For most of us, our country’s ranking really doesn’t matter…but it’s still fun to look at. Especially if it’s suddenly #1. 😉
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