REVEALED: The top 20 most powerful passports in the world

Do you wonder what the 20 most powerful passports in the world are?

Well, Global Citizen Solutions’s new Global Passport Index ranks global passports by visa-free access, mobility, investment opportunity and quality of life offered by each destination.

Enlisting quantitative analysts with extensive experience in international organisations, the Global Passport Index presents a new methodology to measure the overall attractiveness of each country for relocation, investment, or dual citizenship purposes.

Patricia Casaburi, the managing director at Global Citizen Solutions, says that there was a need to develop a new citizenship ranking that went beyond travel mobility.

“From feedback obtained via years of experience working directly with our clients, we realised that what really mattered for them when looking at a second citizenship was not only mobility but also lifestyle and investment opportunities.

“It quickly became apparent that the time was right to develop a passport index that took these factors into account, making a relatable, real methodology for comparing countries and their attractiveness for real-life choices," she said.

The US claimed the first spot, with a total score of 96.4.

The top country in the Quality of Life Index is Sweden, due to its high score in the six indicators used to rank the countries along this dimension, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index, the World Happiness Report and the Freedom in the World Index.

The Global Passport Index ranks the UK in 7th position: although the country has a high score in both the Quality of Life index (8th) and the Investment index (16th), it ranks 32nd in the Enhanced Mobility Index.

Dr Roberto de Pinho, one of the two senior analysts behind the Global Passport Index said the overall objective of this project was to develop a quantitative tool that could provide useful information on how countries rank on a number of dimensions relating to their attractiveness as destinations to relocate to or obtain citizenship.

Vladimir Lopez-Bassols, STI (science, technology and innovation) analyst working in partnership with De Pinho said the new methodology provides a more comprehensive view of mobility and country attractiveness.

The top 20 passports ranked in the Global Passport Index are:

1. US

2. Germany

3. Canada

4. The Netherlands

5. Denmark

6. Sweden

7. UK

8. Finland

9. Norway

10. New Zealand

11. Switzerland