The Greek passport is ranked as the eighth most powerful in the world as measured by the number of countries passport holders may visit visa-free, according to the annual study recently released by the Henley Passport Index.
The Index which has been issued annually since 2006, compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations.
Greek passport holders can visit 185 destinations without requiring a visa, according to the Index.
Japan, Singapore, and South Korea have the most powerful passports. A Japanese passport provides hassle-free entry to 193 countries—one more than those from Singapore and South Korea. This marks the fourth year that Japan has nabbed first place.
Brexit has had a significant impact on the value of the British passport over the last few years. The UK now holds sixth position in the rankings alongside France, Ireland, and Portugal. In 2015, pre-referendum, the UK held the top spot alongside Germany, according to the Passport Index.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has moved up the rankings to thirty-fifth, as the European Union voted for emergency measures to allow citizens to enter the bloc visa-free for the next three years, following the invasion of Russia.
In March, the EU agreed to implement the Temporary Protection Directive for Ukraine, which was introduced “to give immediate protection to persons who need it and to avoid overwhelming Member States’ asylum systems.” More than six million people have thus far fled the country to neighboring nations, according to the UN.
Henley and Partners said the war “effectively condemns the Russian passport to junk status throughout much of the developed world,” warning of a “profound and perhaps irreversible impact on freedom of movement within the region as a new Iron Curtain descends.”
Reflecting this, the Russian passport has dropped in rankings since the onset of the conflict. It now sits in fiftieth place after falling five places since last year.
Afghanistan has retained its position this year as the lowest-ranked country on the Index. Afghan citizens can only access twenty-seven countries without restrictions. Iraq and Syria are also low-ranked and are able to visit only twenty-nine and thirty countries, respectively.
Greek passport ranked eighth most powerful
The United States and Britain shared first place in 2014, but the power of their passports has since fallen with the most travel freedom in the past decade recorded by China.
China rose twenty-two places from ninetieth to sixty-eight and the UAE from sixty-fifth to the fifteenth during that same period.
“The passport you hold determines your fate and dramatically impacts the options you have,” said Dr Christian Kaelin, the chairman of Henley and Partners and inventor of the passport index.
The top ten most powerful passports are issued by the following countries, according to Henley as outlined below.
Ranked 1: Japan (with a total of 193 countries that can be visited visa-free)
Ranked 2: Singapore, and South Korea (192)
Ranked 3: Germany, Spain (190)
Ranked 4: Finland, Italy, Luxemburg (189)
Ranked 5: Austria, Denmark (188)
Ranked 8: Greece (185)
The index, based on seventeen years of data, helps wealthy individuals and governments assess the value of citizenships around the world based on which passports offer the most prolific visa-free or visa-on-arrival access.
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