It’s a common stereotype, rooted in some truth, that Canadians don’t travel anywhere without a Canadian flag pinned somewhere on their bags or bodies. The token maple leaf might help you find some new friends in far off places, but it’s the Canadian passport that is your best friend when trying to trot around the globe.
The Canadian passport, with its funky designs that pop off the page under a black light, ranks as one of the most useful, according to an analysis by travel website GoEuro.
Canada placed seventh in a ranking of passports from 51 countries. Sweden came in at number one, while Afghanistan was at the bottom of the list.
Have a look at our infographic, below, to see where other countries ranked and to find out a few fun facts about other countries’ passports.
GoEuro ranked the passports based on the number of countries one can travel to with their passport without obtaining a visa prior to arrival.
According to the Berlin-based company, Canadian tourists can enter 173 countries visa-free. The top five countries — Sweden, Finland, Germany, United Kingdom and United States —had one additional country they could visit without a visa.
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Other factors in the ranking were the price of the passport and the number of hours a citizen needs to work in order to pay for the document.
So while Sweden and the next four top countries can visit 174 countries visa-free, the Swedish passport only costs about $51 which is about the same as the average hourly wage.
By comparison, the Canadian passport will run you $160 and takes about 15 hours of work (on average) to pay for. But, don’t feel too bad: a Turkish passport is nearly double that.
At $303, it’s one of the most expensive passports in the world to obtain and it would take the average Turkish citizen 95 hours of work to pay for. For Liberians, meanwhile, their passport is a bit more than a third the cost of a Canadian one — about $60 — but the country’s low average wage means you would have to work 278 hours to cover the cost. The Liberian passport ranks third to last on the GoEuro list.
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The two worst passports to have on the list are Iraq (50) and Afghanistan (51). The Afghan passport has a price tag of $126 but takes 183 hours of work to pay off, and it only gets you into 28 countries without a visa.
The Iraqi passport is far cheaper — just $24 or three hours pay — and allows you to travel to 31 countries sans visa.
Canada’s high rank on the GoEuro list means the country is high on the list of desired nationalities.
GoEuro also conducted an online poll to ask which nationality respondents wished to have if they could get an extra nationality aside from their own.
Canada ranked fifth, ahead of Australia. British nationality was the top choice.
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