As any traveller knows, passports are the ultimate “don’t leave home without it” item, but the country from which a passport is supplied can have a major effect on travel plans and time spent abroad.

GoEuro, a Berlin-based metasearch travel website, analyzed passports from 50 countries around the world to discover which nationalities’ passports are the most useful for travellers to make their way around the globe.

Analysis of a country’s passport to produce the ranking was based on information such as visa-free access—the number of countries that could be visited by the passport holder without obtaining a visa—as well as cost and length of validity.

The Canadian passport ranked number seven overall, with visa-free access to 173 countries at a cost of $120 for a five-year passport and $160 for a 10-year passport. If a Canadian passport is delivered to a traveller outside of Canada, fees for 5-year and 10-year passports are $190 and $260, respectively.

Following are the top 10 passport rankings in the GoEuro survey.

Country Visa-free Access Passport Cost (in US$)

1. Sweden 174 $43

2. Finland 174 $56

3. Germany 174 $69

4. United Kingdom 174 $110

5. USA 174 $135

6. Denmark 173 $95

7. Canada 173 $98

8. Spain 172 $30

9. Belgium 172 $76

10. Netherlands 172 $78