European travel firm GoEuro looked into issues such as how easy it is to get a passport, which countries it offers access to without a visa, its price and how long it is valid for. Their study suggested that a passport from Sweden is the most powerful in the world, followed by Finland, Germany, the UK and the US.
While those with a passport from any of these top five nations can enter 174 countries without a visa, Sweden’s came out the cheapest. It costs the equivalent of $43 (€40, £28, 350 kronor). By contrast, a German passport is priced at $69 (€64, £46, 600 kronor) and British passports are priced at around $110 (€102, £72.50, 957 kronor).
The research suggested that EU membership is a vital factor for visa free movement, with Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands also making the top ten.
“In previous rankings it has largely been a matter of analysing visa-free access to determine the strength of a passport. This is an important factor, but it is also crucial to consider the ability of the average citizen to afford purchasing the document,” Molly Levinson, a spokesperson for GoEuro told The Local.
“Cost plays a large part in Sweden’s ranking. Visa-free access to other countries may be similar to other nationalities but passports in Sweden are much less expensive to obtain.”
“The Swedish passport ranks higher based on a combination of visa-free access and ease of obtaining the document. This places Sweden higher than countries such as Switzerland which offers visa-free access to fewer countries and has a more expensive passport.”
Source: GoEuro
GoEuro also ranked Sweden highly by comparing the number of hours someone would need to work at the minimum wage to buy a passport. However the figure for Sweden is slightly misleading, since Sweden does not have a minimum wage.
