Japan’s passport eclipses Singapore’s as most powerful in the world again

Passports from Japan confer the widest travel freedom, giving holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 countries; France rises a place on power index, but Germany, UK, US, China and Russia fall

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Japanese tourists on Pattaya beach in Thailand. Japanese passport holders have visa-free access to more countries than holders of any other passport. Photo: Alamy

Published: 7:14pm, 9 Oct 2018Updated: 7:30pm, 9 Oct 2018

Japan has overtaken Singapore to claim the top spot on the 2018 Henley Passport Index, having gained visa-free access to Myanmar this month. Japan now enjoys visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations, compared to Singapore’s total of 189.

The countries have been neck and neck since they both climbed to first place in February, pushing Germany down to second place for the first time since 2014.

Germany has now fallen further to third place, which it shares with South Korea and France. Their nationals enjoy visa-free access to 188 countries. France moved up a place last Friday when it gained visa-free access to Uzbekistan.

Iraq and Afghanistan continues to sit at the bottom (106th) of the Henley Passport Index – based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

An Afghan passport is the joint least useful of any on the Henley Passport Index. Photo: Alamy

The US and the UK, both with 186 destinations, have slid down yet another spot – from fourth to fifth place – with neither having gained access to any new jurisdictions since the start of 2018.