Ireland ranked in top 3 of world’s most powerful passports

Henley Passport Index has officially updated their ranking.

Henley Passport Index has officially updated their ranking of all 199 passports, and Ireland has nabbed third place.

Falling behind first place Singapore, which accesses 193 countires, and joint second place Japan and South Korea both accessing 190, Ireland is ranked joint third with 6 other countries who all have access to 189 countries worldwide.

The list ranks the world’s 199 passports based on the number of destinations they can access visa-free.

This is based on exclusive Timatic data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

At the far end of the spectrum, Afghanistan is ranked 99th with the passport only gaining access to 25 countries.

Syria isn't far behind, accessing 27 and Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia all equal at 29 countries.

Both the UK and the US have dropped in rankings since January with the former in 6th and the latter in 10th.

The UK has visa-free access to 186 destinations, and the US to 182.

Each passport was once the world's most powerful, the UK in 2015 and the US in 2014, but now, for the first time in the index's 20 year history, the US is on the brink of being knocked out of the top 10.

The United Arab Emirates looks to be the rankings standout success, rising 34 places over the last decade from 42nd to 8th place.

China's 34-place rise since 2015 from 94th to 60th is also largely impressive, seeing as they have not yet gained visa-free access to Europe's Schengen Area.