UAE's passport ranked world's best, Pakistan at fourth-worst
- Passport Index, invented by global citizenship financial advisory services firm Arton Capital, puts Pakistan just ahead of Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan
The 'Passport Index', invented by global citizenship financial advisory services firm Arton Capital, has put UAE at the top of the list of the world's most powerful travel document, while Pakistan was ranked fourth-worst, only ahead of Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.
The Passport Index provides real-time global ranking of the world’s passports, with the purpose of informing the public on mobility.
UAE topped the list with a total mobility score of 180. The score of a passport denotes the number of countries holders can visit without a visa and can obtain a visa on arrival.
Pakistan's mobility score was at 44, and Afghanistan was at the bottom of the list with a mobility score of 38.
Pakistan's passport was also ranked as the fourth-worst on the Henley Passport Index in the third quarter of 2022.
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The top ten in the index featured mostly European countries including Germany, Spain, France and Italy among others.
This new accolade adds to UAE's reputation as a favoured destination, paired with Dubai's hot property market, including the luxury sector which saw many record-breaking purchases this year, including that of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's $163 million real-estate transaction.
With a UAE passport, travelers can enter 180 countries seamlessly, seven more than European countries such as Germany and Sweden, and nine more than Japan, whose travel document was ranked as the world’s best earlier this year in a list published by Henley & Partners. The Asian country ranks 24 on Arton’s index with easy access to 171 countries.
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The UAE was able to maintain tourism footfall throughout the course of the pandemic, by relying on strict mask mandates and inoculations, instead of full-scale lockdowns. The government was able to draw visitors from around the world looking to escape strict curbs in their home countries.
“Global mobility is rapidly rising, despite the eruption of conflict in Europe and growing tensions over borders,” Arton was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
“Though the world continues to feel the aftershocks of the pandemic, surprisingly, traveling has never been easier, with steady growth in passport power across the board, a trend that we predict will continue into 2023.”
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Arton stated that the passports of almost every single country became more powerful this year, with nations keen to reap the economic benefits offered by enabling greater freedoms of movement.
The data in the Passport Index is compiled by comparing passports of 193 United Nations member countries and 6 territories coming to a total of 199 to be considered.
Territories annexed to other countries such as Norfolk Island (Australia), French Polynesia (France), British Virgin Islands (Britain) and more who do not issue their own passports are excluded and not considered as destinations.
Pakistani passport still fourth-worst in the world
Countries which issue passports, regardless if they enforce independent visa policies or not are considered as destinations.
Data is based on official information provided by governments, updated in real-time with intelligence obtained through crowdsourcing, enhanced with proprietary research from credible sources, according to Arton Capital.
In the case of a tie, the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index 2018 (UNDP HDI) is used as a tie breaker.
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