Irish passport officially ranked the most powerful in the world

There's never been a better time to be Irish!

The Swiss tax and immigration consultancy firm uses numerous variables to decide on which passport is the strongest.

These include; Visa-free travel, taxation, global perception, ability to hold dual citizenship and personal freedom.

It is the first time that Ireland has topped the list, having come close in 2020 after finishing joint-first with Luxembourg and Sweden.

Speaking to NewsTalk, journalist Joe O’Shea said: “In the past few years, the UAE - Dubai basically - was the place to go.

“The Nordic countries have always done well. 

“What’s fascinating about it is that they’ve looked at Ireland and not just on the fact that we can travel well with our passport - but on a number of other criteria. 

“Visa free travel, taxation system, the global perception and the ability to hold dual citizenship.

“There’s freedom of the press and no mandatory military service.

“So, what they’re saying is, if you can pick one country in the world to live in, it should be Ireland.”

Each criteria of the index is scored from 10 to 50.

Ireland scored top marks in Perception, Dual-Citizenship and Freedom and got 30 for Taxation.

In total, we scored 109 with Greece and Switzerland in joint second with 108.5.

Speaking to CNBC, Javier Correa said: “Ireland shook up the rankings, thanks to the country’s strong international reputation, business-friendly tax policies, and overall citizenship flexibility."

Other notable positions in the index was the drop of the UAE, which topped the table in 2023, was sixth in 2024 and has placed 10th in 2025.