A new study by financial consultant Nomad Capitalist found that the Singapore passport is only ranked 20th most powerful, contrary to local state media’s claims. According to the study, Singapore citizenship ranks poorly because of mandatory National Service and it’s lack of freedom, achieving a score of 30/50 for freedom.
The freedom ranking for Singapore however should accurately be lower following recent high profile events like Keppel and SMRT corruption cases, and various media control regulations introduced by the Singapore government. New Zealand passport ranks 12th while Australia’s ranked 16th.
You may view the Nomad Passport Index here.
In Oct 2017, state media Straits Times published a fake news claiming that Singapore has the “most powerful” passport in the world, without consideration for the burdens tagged along with the Singapore citizenship. The Straits Times report was met with criticisms after Singaporeans point out that it is useless to have visa-free access to over 176 countries when the citizens have very weak cash savings.
Singapore citizens have one of the highest taxes in the world, at 37.5% due to CPF. Unlike other retirement system, funds in the CPF are locked by the government with withdrawal limit and age rules changing nearly every year. Singaporeans can only withdraw their CPF in monthly instalment after 65 years old, and withdraw the excess only after meeting a Minimum Sum of S$166,000.