OREANDA-NEWS. Henley & Partners consulting company compiled Passport Index reflecting the quantity of states which can be visited by a citizen without visa or issue it on arrival.

The Japanese were recognized as the holders of the most “powerful” passports in the world: they can enter 191 states and territories of the world. A year earlier, Japan was also a leader in the ranking, but then its result was 190 countries. Now this figure is enough only for the second place, which was occupied by Singapore. The third place in the ranking was shared by Germany and South Korea (189 countries each).

Henley & Partners experts note that Asian countries are rapidly improving their positions in the ranking. For example, over the past year, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have risen by 4 positions (18th and 66th places respectively), while 10 years ago the UAE was 65th.

The USA and Great Britain passports are gradually falling in the ranking. During the past year, they fell from 6th place to 8th (184 countries).