The index is a ranking of all the passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free.

Hast du einen Deutschen Pass? If the answer is 'ja', you're in possession of the most powerful passport in the world.

The German passport has claimed first place on the Henley Passport Index for the fifth time running, beating out Singapore to the top spot.

New Zealand's passport dropped two places to seventh on the index, alongside Australia and Greece.

SUPPLIED Kiwis can get into 171 countries visa-free.

According to Henley & Partners, the index is a ranking of all the passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free.

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German passport owners have visa-free access to 177 countries in total, up from 176 last year. Kiwis can get into 171 countries visa-free.

Eight countries - Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom - share third place, offering access to 175 countries.

For the second year in a row, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan sit at the bottom of the Henley Passport Index - holders of these passports are able to access 30 or fewer countries visa-free.

Henley & Partners chairman Christian Kälin said that the need for visa-free access is greater than ever.

"We are also seeing a growing tendency towards a more isolationist, immigration-hostile policy among traditional migrant-receiving countries such as the United States, and 2018 will bring further uncertainty, with the United Kingdom still in the grip of ongoing Brexit negotiations".

The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world's largest database of travel information, and is enhanced by extensive in-house research.

The biggest climbers on the 2018 index were Georgia (up 15 places to 53rd), Ukraine (up 14 places to 44th) and China (up 10 places to 75th).

Click here for the full list.