SINGAPORE - The Singapore passport has knocked Germany off the top spot as the world's most powerful, in a joint-ranking with Japan.

Citizens of both Singapore and Japan have visa-free access to a record number of 180 destinations, making them the most powerful passports in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index released on Wednesday (Feb 28).

In comparison, the Germany passport provides visa-free access to 179 destinations worldwide.

In joint-third place on the rankings are France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and South Korea, which moved up eight places compared with last year.

Singapore and Japan's rise up the rankings comes after Uzbekistan lifted visa requirements for citizens of both countries earlier this month.

The lifting of visa requirements also applied to several other countries in Asia and the Middle East, including Turkey, Indonesia and Israel.

"In general, the Asian and Middle East regions have in recent months seen high levels of visa-policy activity compared with their European and American counterparts, where the signing of new cross-border agreements on short-term travel has been far less frequent," said Henley & Partners in a statement.

As a result, the United Kingdom has dropped from third to fourth place in the rankings, with its passport providing visa-free access to 177 destinations.

The United States remains in fifth place, with visa-free access to 176 destinations.

Meanwhile, both Russia and China have moved up the rankings, with Russia up three spots to 45th place and China moving up 11 spots to rank 74th.

On the bottom four ranks of the index are Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, each with visa-free access to 30 or fewer destinations.

In a separate ranking published in October last year, the Singapore passport was ranked the most powerful in the world by Arton Capital, with a visa-free score of 159. Germany came in second while South Korea and Sweden were third.