The Macau SAR has climbed seven places to become the joint 29th strongest passport in the world, according to the latest Henley Passport Index published by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners.
The Macau SAR passport, which shares the rank with Paraguay, permits visa-free access to 143 countries, compared with 127 in 2017 and 120 the year before.
As of this year, the Japanese passport is now the world’s most powerful, allowing visa-free travel to 189 jurisdictions. Germany, the strongest passport in last year’s ranking, is tied in second place with Singapore, both allowing access to 188 countries.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong is in 16th place with 169 countries, a spot it shares with Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. Taiwan (148) is a little further down in the ranking in 26th place, while mainland China (70) is 68th.
China was the third biggest climber on this year’s index, rising 17 places from last year. Its improvement was surpassed only by Ukraine and Georgia, which rose by 20 and 19 ranks respectively.
Meanwhile, the world’s weakest passports included those from Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Henley Passport Index surveys 199 passports from around the world against 227 different travel destinations. Therefore, the maximum score a country can achieve is 226. In last year’s index, only 219 destinations were considered.
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