The 2017 Nomad Passport Index ranked the Luxembourg passport in joint eighth place, while the podium was dominated by Sweden, Belgium, and Italy and Spain in joint third.

The index highlights the value of citizenship to 199 different countries based not only visa-free travel but also on tax freedom, perception, access to dual citizenship and freedom.

With a total score of 106, Luxembourg scored top marks in taxation, dual citizenship and freedom, but missed out on the top spot in the most important factor in the value of a passport--visa-free travel (172 countries) and perception (40 out of 50).

The latter relied on data from the World Happiness Report, the Human Development Index and subjective factors based on personal experiences relayed by Nomad clients based on how citizens are received.

It should be noted that the World Happiness report brings together data such as GDP per capita, life expectancy at birth, as well as surveys with Luxembourgers and non-Luxembourgers alike. Given that non-Luxembourgers make up 46% of the population, it is possible this is more a reflection on residents in general as opposed to passport holders alone.

The attractiveness of gaining Luxembourg citizenship bears out in recent figures which show that in 2014 Luxembourg had the highest rate of acquisitions of nationality per 1,000 residents in the EU28 with 5.8.

The advantages were also confirmed in the Global Passport Power ranking 2017, ranking nationalities by the number of other countries a person can visit without a via or by obtaining a visa on arrival (the latter was not taken into account in the Nomad Passport Index). This study placed Luxembourg in joint fourth place with Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, South Korea and Japan.

The “Nomad Passport Index” was published on 1 March by Nomad Capitalist, a US-based consultancy that, according to the report, “assists six- and seven-figure entrepreneurs to legally reduce their business and income taxes by relocating overseas, obtain residence permits and citizenships in other countries for diversification, and invest in fast-growing international markets to grow their wealth faster.”