It always seems odd writing that some passports are more powerful than others - it sounds like a seriously shit pitch for a low budget movie, with some kind of passport-related mayhem.
Because on the face of it, what the hell should your nationality matter? Why should one be more 'powerful' than others?
But, alas, some are deemed to be superior to help you through the trials and tribulations of life, and in particular the V word - visa.
You regularly hear some British people explaining that they strongly feel our passport is the 'most powerful' on the planet but, in fact, that accolade belongs to the Germans, closely followed by Sweden and Singapore.
The UK does make it into the top 10, however. Nothing particularly special.
The information, put forward by Passport Index, explains that the Germans do not have to get a visa to visit 158 countries before travel, though they will have to get them on arrival at some of these.
Winning. Credit: PA
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Sweden and Singapore are hot on its heels, with free passage to 157 member nations each, with Sweden scraping second spot (plenty of sibilance there) because 123 of those 157 do not require any type of visa, whereas Singapore has 122 completely visa-free states.
Scandinavia does well in general, to be honest. I could bore you with more diatribes, but here's a list of the top 25 for you to peruse.
1. Germany (158)
2. Sweden (157)
3. Singapore (157)
4. Denmark (156)
5. Finland (156)
6. France (156)
7. Spain (156)
8. Switzerland (156)
9. Norway (156)
10. United Kingdom (156)
11. United States of America (156)
12. Italy (155)
13. Netherlands (155)
14. Belgium (155)
15. Austria (155)
16. Luxembourg (155)
17. Portugal (155)
18. Japan (155)
19. Malaysia (154)
20. Ireland (154)
21. Canada (154)
22. New Zealand (154)
23. Greece (153)
24. South Korea (153)
25. Australia (153)
If you want to know the 25 shittest passports on the planet; the Wigan Athletics, take a gander...
175. Equatorial Guinea (43)
176. Burundi (42)
177. Nigeria (41)
178. Myanmar (40)
179. Yemen (40)
180. Djibouti (40)
181. Congo (Dem. Rep.) (39)
182. Kosovo (39)
183. North Korea (39)
184. Lebanon (38)
185. Palestinian Territories (37)
186. Nepal (37)
187. Libya (37)
188. Iran (36)
189. Eritrea (36)
190. Sudan (36)
191. Bangladesh (35)
192. Sri Lanka (35)
193. South Sudan (34)
194. Ethiopia (34)
195. Somalia (30)
196. Syria (29)
197. Iraq (28)
198. Pakistan (26)
199. Afghanistan (23)
Obviously some of these nations have had a mixture of problems/wars/dictatorial regimes/ethic cleansing and more over the years, so it makes sense that it's harder for these people to travel unfortunately.
When did passports start becoming a thing?
Well would you Adam and Eve it (actually, no, not that far back). The first passport invented was credited to King Henry V (yeah, that's a hell of a long time ago, well before Caroline, Jacobean and Elizabethan dynasties, way back when in the early 15th century, with a reference found in a 1414 Act of Parliament paper).
This guy started it.
The first official use of word passport was around 1540, around the same time that issuing passports in Augsburg became common practice.
It became a massive operation during the times of the industrial revolution, though you still didn't necessarily need one to travel to another country (which does bode the question of the point of them hitherto).
It's only when the horrors of World War I kicked off and it was implemented for security purposes that what we really consider as the modern-day passport was implemented. From then, it has grown to the global way of travelling across borders.
And now you know.
Featured Image Credit: PA