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| Source: Arton Capital website. The Global Mobility Barometer 2019. |
Kicking off the Top 10 Greatest Passports of the Decade is the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in 10th place, showing a 70% increase in its passport power after gaining 53 visa waivers.
Timor Leste comes next in 9th place with +55 visa waivers, jumping from 86th position on the global rankings, to 48th place. Micronesia takes 8th place with a 116 Mobility Score after gaining 57 visa waivers.
At the top of the rank as the world's Greatest Passport of the Decade is the UAE, gaining a total of +111 visa waivers, most of which have been agreed in the last three years. China was one of the lowest-placed countries 10 years ago, but has gained 37 points to reach a Mobility Score of 80 today.
In 2019 the UAE preserved its global lead, adding another 12 countries to its mobility score. Qatar, Macau, and Indonesia have also shown progress in the power of their passport this past year. Qatar gained +12 visa waivers through 2019, while Macau and Indonesia added +10 to their passport power. Brunei ended the year with nine more visa waivers.
Another country of note in the list of The Fastest-Growing Passports of 2019 is KSA, Arton Capital said. It also has nine additional visa waivers.
The war in Syria has forced it down to 3rd place in rankings for the world's weakest passport. In 2010 Syria was not even on the bottom 10 list. The authors for the Passport Index note that there is a correlation between the economic and political state of a country and the power of its passport, which can also be seen in bottom 10 places such as Yemen and the Palestinian Territories.
According to the report's World Openness Score, the world is 54% open.
"At an average increase of 4% year-over-year, it would be incredible to assume that by 2035 the entire world be open for travel," shared Armand Arton, President of Arton Capital. page.
