Hungary is among the countries having the world’s most powerful passports

Japan is in first place consecutively for the third year. Even though 2020 was not about travelling and visiting other countries for most of us, hopefully, this will change in 2021 thanks to the vaccines and the inoculation campaigns all countries in the world conducts to immunise their citizens against the deadly COVID-19 virus. Therefore, it is worth to measure how strong Hungary’s passport is currently.

According to atlasandboots.com, they took a look “at the newly released ranking of the world’s most powerful passports, compiled by Henley Passport Index. With historical data spanning 16 years, the index ranks passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.“

Currently, Japan has the strongest passport in the world,

with which one can travel to 191 destinations. The East Asian country is followed by Singapore, with 190 destinations. Then come Germany and South Korea, both allowing them to enter 189 countries.

You can find the complete list of the top 10 states below:

1. Japan: 191 destinations

2. Singapore: 190 

3. Germany: 189 

3. South Korea: 189

4. Finland: 188

4. Italy: 188

4. Luxembourg: 188

4. Spain: 188

5. Austria: 187

5. Denmark: 187

It is interesting to look at which travel documents are the least powerful in the world. On the last place, there is Afghanistan, where your passport allows entering to only 26 countries. It might be surprising, but even the North Korean passport makes it possible to travel to 39 destinations. You can find the bottom ten below:

103. North Korea: 39 destinations

104. Libya: 38

104. Nepal: 38

105. Palestinian Territory: 37

106. Somalia: 33

106. Yemen: 33

107. Pakistan: 32

108. Syria: 29

109. Iraq: 28

110. Afghanistan: 26

According to atlasandboots.com, “the Henley Passport Index uses data from the International Air Transport Authority to cross-check 199 passports against 227 possible travel destinations. For each travel destination, if no visa is required or a visa-on-arrival is available, the passport in question receives a score of 1. If a visa or other form of government approval is required before departure, the passport receives a score of 0.”

Then the scores are added up, producing the total meaning the number of destinations you can reach with the given country’s passport. Interestingly, this is the third consecutive year that Japan remains on the top of the list jointly or alone with Singapore.

• What role for vaccine passports in coronavirus fight?
• Hungarian passport joins the most powerful in Europe
• How powerful the Hungarian passport actually is

Over the past seven years, the US passport has fallen from the number one spot to 7th place, a position it currently shares with the UK – atlasandboots.com says. Meanwhile, North Koreans can travel visa-free to only one European country: Belarus.

Hungary is in tenth place, allowing you to enter 182 countries

if you hold their passport. The biggest climbers over the past decade are United Arab Emirates, Colombia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, Georgia and Peru. In contrast, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, Libya, The Gambia and Sierra Leone have fared the worst – atlasandboots.com reported.

You can check the full list below: