What’s our number? South Africa’s passport now ranks in the top 50 most powerful passports in the world on the Passport Index.
Passport Index: What is it?
Not only does the Passport Index rank the world’s passports, it aims to highlight, educate and inform the public on the power passports transcend on the holder’s identity, opportunity, mobility and overall quality of life.
Invented and empowered by Arton Capital, the Passport Index is the only real-time global ranking of the world’s passports, updated as frequently as new visa waivers and changes are implemented.
Since its inception, the Passport Index has become the leading global mobility intelligence platform, celebrated across the world.
The passports of the world are sorted by their total Mobility Score (MS), which includes visa-free and visa-on-arrival privileges. The higher the Mobility Score, the more global mobility its passport-owner has.
South Africa’s spot
South Africa now ranks number 46 for power and has a MS of 108. A South African passport holder can travel to 65 countries visa-free, and 43 countries require visa on arrival.
ALSO READ: ‘Do it yourself’? Self-service passports for South Africa
ALSO READ: NEW passport application and travel document fees
Top 10
The Top 10 most powerful passports in the world are as follows:
- United Arab Emirates – scoring 181 for MS
- Germany, Sweden, Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland and South Korea – scoring 174 for MS
- Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America and New Zealand – scoring 173 for MS
- Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Japan and Australia– scoring 172 for MS
- Singapore, Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia and Canada– scoring 171 for MS
- Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia– scoring 170 for MS
- Iceland and Liechtenstein– scoring 169 for MS
- Cyprus, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria– scoring 168 for MS
- Malaysia– scoring 166 for MS
- Monaco– scoring 164 for MS
ALSO READ: Most Powerful Passports ranked: what’s SA’s number?
