The influence of states can be measured in a variety of quantities.
- Someone will say that the most important parameter here is the military or economic power of the state, and he will be right: a large, well-armed army or a multi-structured economy with a large GDP are important.
- Others will remember about "soft power" and, again, will be right: thanks to even anime, manga and some other things, Japan's influence on world processes today is much greater, which allows Tokyo to talk on an equal footing with much larger world players.
- A very close point of view mentions languages: the more native speakers a language has, the more influence a country enjoys on the world stage. Given the success of the Indians and Chinese, everything seems quite logical, but it is not very clear how and where the Arab countries can be placed in this scheme: they have one language, but there are more than two dozen states.
What about the passport? Where, in which countries of the world are the holders of certain passports looked at as their own people, allowing them to overcome customs posts without inspection?
Surprisingly, the First Position in this rating in 2022 was climbed by the United Arab Emirates: at least, according to an international non-profit organization that ranks the influence of passports of various states.
The ranking mechanism is quite simple and transparent. The key indicator is the number of states whose border the owner can cross in a visa-free regime.
And on the first line this season unexpectedly, but quite naturally, the UAE got out. It is interesting to note that in the ranking it is the only country outside of Europe; all the others are located in the Old World.
When forming the rating, both countries with visa-free entry and states where a visa can be obtained immediately upon arrival, right at the airport, are taken into account.
In second place is a dense conglomerate of European countries, diluted by South Korea. Citizens of these countries without problems and visa documents can come to 173 countries, and more than a hundred do not need a visa in principle, and in other countries it is issued at the time of arrival in the country. In fact, this is the core of the European Union + Switzerland.
And the most unsuitable document for foreign trips is the Afghan one: representatives of this country are ready to accept representatives of this country without visas in five, and when registered immediately upon arrival - in 33 states.
In general, the number of visa-free exchanges between states has been growing steadily for more than 30 years, this trend was established soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain and since then has remained the main direction of cooperation between countries at the grassroots level. Certain adjustments were made by the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection, but it also failed to defeat the trend towards liberalization, only to slow down a little - there is every reason to believe that in 2023 and 2024 the trend will continue. For example: the United Arab Emirates for the year was able to add 13 new countries to its visa-free collection.
