New Zealand’s passport is now the most powerful in the world, according to the latest Global Passport Index compiled by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital.
After Australia agreed to resume travel with Australia earlier this month, New Zealand’s passport is based on its “mobility score” – the number of countries that grant passport access – and New Zealand is ahead with 129.
It has been a volatile year for global travel, although none of the passports recognized from the index (including 193 United Nations countries) have been spared amid ongoing coronavirus epidemics, as nations have banned travel or closed borders for foreigners. For reference, the same index ranked the UAE as the most powerful passport in 2019, as it entered 179 countries.
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New Zealand, meanwhile, topped the latest Global Passport Index, while eight countries trailed in second place with a reach of 128 countries: Germany, Riyadh, Luxembourg, Switzerland, ND, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Sweden, Belgium, France, Finland, Italy and Spain are in third place combined with 127 dynamics.
U.S. Passports currently ranks 21st (and behind 51 other countries) on Arton Capital’s list of countries with access. Passports from Iraq and Afghanistan are in joint last place, with a mobility score of 31.
In early May, Arton Capital acknowledged the “reversal” of rankings amid the epidemic, and also claimed to have observed a “rock-boat for global mobility”, citing temporary travel bans and border closures as the main reasons at the time.
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According to Payton, Arton Capital originally began publishing its Global Passport Index in 2014, using its own proprietary research.