Data on the cost of a passport in the country of issue was collected by the World Bank in October 2005. The principal form of collection was through faxes, emails and telephone calls to the consular offices of each country having an embassy or consulate office in the United States. Other sources of information included websites of passport authorities, telephone calls and faxes to the relevant government ministry in charge of issuing passports in countries, and through staff in World Bank country offices. Passport costs were collected in local currency, and converted into United States dollars at the prevailing interbank exchange rate. After several follow-up attempts, data were able to be collected for passport costs in 127 countries.
In many countries there is not a single passport cost. An attempt to standardize was made by collecting the price of a first-time adult passport valid for five years duration, of the standard number of pages and obtained via the standard processing period. When the country only issues a 10-year passport, this is the price reported. The cost collected contains the cost of the passport itself, but not the cost of paying for photographs, birth certificates, or other such documents which are required along with the passport application.