The Best Passports For Travel In 2023 Were Ranked & These Ones Make Summer Vacations Easy
Did your passport make the top 10?
Canada's new passport design. Right: A woman holding her passport at an airport.
Summer travel season is right around the corner and there are so many places you can go in 2023, assuming you've got a powerful passport and you're not stuck in a passport application backlog before the trip.
Researchers at Nomad Capitalist, a site dedicated to international-minded entrepreneurs, recently released their list of the most high-powered passports for 2023, and the top passports will make it much easier the next time you book an international flight.
The results show that your travel document can play a huge role in where you can go this summer. They also reveal that the United States and Canada have some catching up to do, as they trail behind many other countries on the list.
What is the best passport in 2023?
The Nomad Capitalist passport rankings include several ties, although there is a clear No. 1 country on the list.
The best travel document to hold in 2023 is from the United Arab Emirates, according to Nomad Capitalist. It scored the highest for the number of countries you can visit with or without a visa.
Several European countries are tied for spots in the top 10, along with New Zealand.
If we put all the tied countries together, the list shakes out like this:
- United Arab Emirates
- Luxembourg, Switzerland
- Ireland, Portugal
- Germany, Czech Republic/Czechia
- New Zealand
- Sweden, Finland, Netherlands
- Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Malta
- Lithuania, Italy, Latvia
- Denmark, Slovakia
- Cyprus, Romania, South Korea
How strong is a United States passport in 2023?
Americans who hold a United States passport have access to 173 countries in 2023, according to Nomad Capitalist.
That's pretty good compared to other countries, but Nomad Capitalist knocks the U.S. down the list a bit based on its other criteria.
Under the Nomad Capitalist ranking, the U.S. occupies 43rd spot. However, if we bunch all of the tied countries together, the U.S. is at No. 17, a few spots behind Canada.
The U.S. is facing a passport application backlog right now, so if you're planning to travel in 2023, you might want to head over to the Department Of State's website ASAP!
How good is Canada's passport in 2023?
The Canadian passport allows travel to 172 countries, according to Nomad Capitalist. The Canadian passport was tied for 38th spot on Nomad Capitalist's chart, although if we combine ties it's in 15th place, tied with Australia, Japan and Chile.
Canada recently unveiled plans to change the appearance of its passports in 2023, and based on the reactions, it's probably a good thing that appearance doesn't matter for this list.
What is the worst passport to have in 2023?
The country with the weakest passport in 2023 is Afghanistan, according to Nomad Capitalist. The Afghan Passport grants access to just 39 countries, making it the worst in the world for travel.
It also scored low on the Nomad Capitalist list because of other factors including perception and freedom in the country.
The 10 worst passports according to Nomad Capitalist are:
- Afghanistan
- Yemen
- Iraq
- Pakistan
- Eritrea
- North Korea
- Somalia
- Syria
- Libya
- Ethiopia
Nomad Capitalist's rankings differ a bit from the Henley Passport Index, which is regarded as one of the best lists available. For example, Henley's top passports for 2023 are Japan and Singapore, while the UAE is tied with Cyprus for 16th spot on the list. Henley also ranks the U.S. passport at No. 7, one spot above Canada (No.8). Afghanistan is the weakest passport according to both lists.
However, it's worth pointing out that Nomad Capitalist's criteria are a bit different, as they work in factors such as tax laws and the World Happiness Report.
Nomad Capitalist assigns a score to each passport based on five factors, although those scores are heavily weighted (50%) toward passports that grant you visa-free travel to various countries.
The scores also account for the way countries tax citizens who live abroad (20%), general perception of each country (10%), whether a country allows dual citizenship (10%) and the level of personal freedom in that country (10%).
No matter where you're from, your passport will open doors for you this summer, even if some open more doors than others.
Happy travels!