Here’s where the Irish passport ranks on a list of the most powerful passports in the world

Pretty high, as it turns out.

Conor Heneghan

It might be small, but that passport of yours is a pretty powerful document.

If you’re the holder of an Irish passport, then you’re the holder of one of the most powerful passports in the world, according to a Passport Index developed by international residence and citizenship advisory firm Arton Capital.

The Index ranks national passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a ‘visa-free score’ according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.

Ireland, as it turns out, ranks in sixth place by virtue of the ability of the holder of an Irish passport to visit 154 countries out of 193 United Nations member countries and six territories – ROC Taiwan, Macao (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican.

Ireland shares sixth place with Malaysia, Canada and the USA, with Singapore taking top spot ahead of Germany in second, South Korea and Sweden in third and a host of countries sharing fourth and fifth place.

Singapore’s ascension to the top spot ahead of Germany was aided by Paraguay, who recently removed visa requirements for Singaporeans, while the power of the US passport has subsided since Donald Trump took office; Turkey and the Central African Republic recently revoked their visa-free status to US passport holders.

You can see top ten below, check out the ranking in full here and explore the power of the Irish passport in more detail here; if this doesn’t serve as a timely reminder not to lose the bloody thing, we don’t know what will.