What are the world’s 10 strongest passports taking into account investment opportunities and quality of living alongside travel mobility?
LONDON UK – Global Citizen Solutions launches a real take on passport rankings. The Passport Index ranks global passports not just by visa-free access, but by building mobility, investment opportunity and quality of life offered by each destination into a new, life-centric index that adds to the outdated irrelevant rankings of old. The right of visa-free passage is but a part of the value of any given destination, this Passport Index harmonises the data and ranks countries in a more holistic manner.
A strong passport is not only about travel mobility. In today’s increasingly globalized world, people are looking to invest beyond their borders and obtain residency abroad. The difficulty lies in picking the right country, considering key aspects such as quality of life and investment opportunities. Investment migration agency Global Citizen Solution’s new Passport Index Project addresses the question with the launch of a new, pioneering Global Passport Index.
Enlisting quantitative analysts with extensive experience in international organizations, analysing big data projects for the likes of UNESCO, OECD, and Inter-American Development Bank, the Global Passport Index presents a new methodology to measure the overall attractiveness of each country for relocation, investment, or dual citizenship purposes through three standalone indexes: Enhanced Mobility Index, Investment Index, and Quality of Life Index. Each index enables users to filter results for individual country rankings, using 11 different indicators originated by reputable sources such as the World Economic Forum, Gallup, and the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy.
Patricia Casaburi, Managing Director at Global Citizen Solutions says that there was a need to develop a new citizenship ranking that went beyond travel mobility. “From feedback obtained via years of experience working directly with our clients, we realised that what really mattered for them when looking at a second citizenship was not only mobility but also lifestyle and investment opportunities. It quickly became apparent that the time was right to develop a passport index that took these factors into account, making a relatable, real methodology for comparing countries and their attractiveness for real-life choices.”
The top 10 passports ranked in the Global Passport Index are respectively:
- United States of America
- Germany
- Canada
- The Netherlands
- Denmark
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- Finland
- Norway
- New Zealand
The United States of America ranked 10th in the Mobility Index, 4th in the Investment Index, and 23rd in the Quality of Life Index. Each index weighs 50% (Mobility) 25% (Investment) 25% (Quality of Life) and with a total score of 96,4, the Global Passport ranked the USA in the pole position.
Patricia also comments on the USA topping the Global Passport Index: “The findings of the Global Passport Index confirm a common concern, even in the relative comfort of the highest-ranked countries, a plan B is still important. Having scored well in the Investment, Quality of Life and Enhanced Mobility Indexes, the USA sits at the very top of the table, but it didn’t win in any single Index. Depending on one’s priorities, there are destinations that are potentially seen as better alternatives. Between January 2020 and August 2021 for instance, Portugal issued 774 Golden visas, to Chinese, Brazilian and American citizens (SEF – Portuguese national statistics department). Herein lies the beauty of enhancing the traditional indexes with real-life cares and concerns, it allows clear vision depending on personal preferences, there is no one-size-fits-all glove when planning your future.”
The new Global Passport Index is presented as a user-friendly platform in which users are encouraged to look at rankings created by individual indexes. For instance, if you choose the Enhanced Mobility and the Investment Indexes, both will be topped by Singapore. But the Asian country ranked 130th in the Quality of Life Index, mainly due to its cost of living, which is higher than the US and Sweden. The overall score (92,5) puts Singapore in 15th position in the Global Passport Index.
The top country in the Quality of Life Index is Sweden, due to its high score in the six indicators used to rank the countries along this dimension including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index, the World Happiness Report and the Freedom in the World Index. Sweden is ranked 15th in the Enhanced Mobility Index and 31st in the Investment Index giving the Scandinavian country the 6th position in the overall Global Passport Index.
The Global Passport Index ranks the United Kingdom in 7th position: although the country has a high score in both the Quality of Life index (8th) and the Investment index (16th), it ranks 32nd in the Enhanced Mobility Index.
Dr. Roberto de Pinho, one of the two senior analysts behind the Global Passport Index comments: “The overall objective of this project was to develop a quantitative tool that could provide useful information on how countries rank on a number of dimensions relating to their attractiveness as destinations to relocate to or obtain citizenship.”
Vladimir Lopez-Bassols, STI analyst working in partnership with Roberto comments: “The new methodology provides a more comprehensive view of mobility and country attractiveness that includes 3 broad dimensions, each one summarized in a standalone index constructed using several indicators from a variety of fields. We took special care in creating the Enhanced Mobility Index because a simple list of countries that offer visa-free travel is not enough to rank a passport.”
The top 20 list of passports continues with Switzerland (11th), France (12th), Luxembourg (13th), Ireland (14th), Singapore (15th), Spain (16th), Monaco (17th), Australia (18th), Austria (19th) and Czech Republic (20th).
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
