Singapore climbs ranks 4th globally for travel freedom: Index
SINGAPORE — The Republic has been ranked the fourth country in the world with the most travel freedom – its highest ranking in a decade.
Climbing one spot from last year, Singapore has visa-free access to 173 countries out of 218 countries, according to the 2017 Visa Restrictions Index.
This places the strength of the Singapore passport on par with those from the UK, Austria, France and Norway.
The UK has slipped down yet another position this year to share fourth place with Singapore, after being in first place with Germany for three consecutive years from 2013 to 2015.
Regionally, Singapore is in the top spot again, followed closely by Malaysia in second and Brunei Darussalam in third, with visa-free accesss to 164 and 151 countries respectively.
The biggest climbers in the region were Laos and Myanmar, which are ranked 8th and 9th in South-east Asia. They rose two spots each from last year.
Meanwhile, Germany maintains its top spot on the index for the fourth consecutive year, with access to 176 countries in total. Sweden also remained in second place with visa-free access to 175 countries.
The index - produced by residence and citizenship planning consultancy Henley and Partners in collaboration with the International Air Transport Asssociation - ranked a total of 104 countries.
