Henley Passport Index

The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom for their citizens.[1] It started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI)[2] and was modified and renamed in January 2018.[3][4] The site provides a ranking of the 199 passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free. The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free 'score'. In collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and based on official data from their global database[5] Henley & Partners has analysed the visa regulations of all the countries and territories in the world since 2006.[6]

2021 Henley Passport Index

2021 rank[7]CountryVisa-free destinations
1 Japan191
2 Singapore190
3 Germany189
 South Korea189
4 Finland188
 Italy188
 Luxembourg188
 Spain188
5 Austria187
 Denmark187
6 France186
 Ireland186
 Netherlands186
 Portugal186
 Sweden186
7 Belgium185
 New Zealand185
 Norway185
  Switzerland185
 United Kingdom185
 United States185
8 Australia184
 Czech Republic184
 Greece184
 Malta184
9  Canada183
10 Hungary182
11 Iceland181
 Lithuania181
 Poland181
 Slovakia181
12  Latvia180
 Slovenia180
13 Estonia179
14 Liechtenstein178
 Malaysia178
15 Chile174
 Cyprus174
 Monaco174
16  United Arab Emirates173
17 Romania172
18 Bulgaria171
 Croatia171
19 Argentina170
 Brazil170
 Hong Kong170
20 San Marino168
21 Andorra167
22 Brunei166
23 Barbados161
 Israel161
24 Mexico159
25 Saint Kitts and Nevis156
26 Bahamas155
27 Uruguay153
  Vatican City153
28 Antigua and Barbuda151
 Seychelles151
29 Costa Rica150
 Trinidad and Tobago150
30  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines148
31 Mauritius146
 Saint Lucia146
32  Taiwan145
33 Grenada144
 Macau144
34 Dominica143
35 Panama142
36 Paraguay141
37 Peru135
38 El Salvador134
 Honduras134
 Serbia134
39 Guatemala133
40 Samoa131
 Solomon Islands131
41  Ukraine130
 Vanuatu130
42 Colombia129
 Nicaragua129
 Venezuela129
43  Tuvalu127
44 Tonga125
45 Montenegro124
 North Macedonia124
46 Kiribati123
 Marshall Islands123
47 Moldova120
 Palau120
48 F.S. Micronesia118
49  Bosnia and Herzegovina117
50  Russia116
51 Georgia115
52 Albania114
53 Turkey110
54 Belize101
 South Africa101
55 Kuwait96
56  Qatar95
57  East Timor94
58 Ecuador92
59 Nauru89
60 Fiji88
 Guyana88
61 Jamaica86
62 Botswana85
 Maldives85
63 Papua New Guinea84
64 Bahrain83
65 Oman80
66  Saudi Arabia79
 Thailand79
67 Bolivia78
 Suriname78
68 Namibia77
69  Lesotho76
70 Belarus75
 China74
 Kazakhstan76
71  Eswatini74
72 Malawi73
73 Kenya72
74 Indonesia71
 Tanzania71
 Tunisia69
 Zambia71
75 Gambia68
76 Azerbaijan67
 Uganda67
77 Cape Verde66
 Dominican Republic65
 Philippines67
78  Ghana65
 Zimbabwe65
79 Cuba64
 Morocco64
80 Armenia63
 Kyrgyzstan63
 Sierra Leone63
81 Benin62
 Mozambique62
 Mongolia62
82 São Tomé and Príncipe61
83 Rwanda60
84 Burkina Faso59
 Mauritania59
85 India58
 Tajikistan58
86 Gabon57
 Ivory Coast57
 Uzbekistan57
87 Senegal56
88 Equatorial Guinea55
 Guinea55
 Madagascar55
 Togo55
89 Cambodia54
 Mali54
 Niger54
 Vietnam54
90 Bhutan53
 Chad53
 Comoros53
 Guinea-Bissau53
 Turkmenistan53
91 Central African Republic52
92 Algeria51
 Jordan51
93 Angola50
 Burundi50
 Egypt50
 Laos50
94 Cameroon49
 Haiti49
 Liberia49
95 Congo48
96 Djibouti47
 Myanmar47
97 Nigeria46
98 Ethiopia44
99 South Sudan43
100 DR Congo42
 Eritrea42
 Sri Lanka42
101 Bangladesh41
 Iran41
102 Kosovo40
 Lebanon40
 Sudan40
103 North Korea39
104 Libya38
   Nepal38
105  Palestine37
106 Somalia33
 Yemen33
107 Pakistan32
108 Syria29
109 Iraq28
110 Afghanistan26

Definition of the Index

The HPI ranks passports according to how many destinations can be reached without requiring a visa ('visa-free'). All distinct destination countries and territories in the IATA database are considered. However, since not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations against which queries are made.[8]

Methodology

To determine the score for each country or territory,[9] its passport is checked against the IATA database in several steps:

1. Each of the 199 passports on the list, is checked against all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database. The score is updated throughout the year as conditions change.

2. Each query must satisfy certain conditions:

  • passport is issued in the country of nationality
  • passport holder is an adult citizen of the country which issued the passport and a lone traveller, not part of a tourist group
  • entry is sought for tourism or business
  • the stay is a minimum of three days

3. Further conditions include:

  • queries are made only for holders of normal passports rather than diplomatic, service, emergency, or temporary passports and other travel documents are disregarded
  • passport holders do not meet any complex requirements for entry (for example, possessing a government-issued letter, translations, or empty pages)
  • passport holders have all necessary vaccinations and certificates;
  • passport holders are arriving at and departing from the same airport
  • passport holders are seeking a short stay rather than a transit
  • the port of entry is a major city or capital, in cases where this is required
  • requirements by the destination country or territory regarding a particular length of validity of passports are disregarded
  • passport holders meet all basic requirements for entry (for example, holding a hotel reservation or having proof of sufficient funds or return tickets)
  • advance passenger information and advance approval to board are not considered to be a visa requirement or travel restriction, neither is the requirement to pay airport tax

It is assumed that the visa policies of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are identical to Denmark.

4. If no visa is required for passport holders from a particular country or territory to enter the destination, then that passport scores 1. [The passport also scores 1 if a visa on arrival, a visitor's permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) can be obtained because they do not require pre-departure government approval, perhaps because of specific visa-waiver programs in place.]

5. Where visas are needed, or where passport holders have to get government-approved electronic visas (e-Visas) before departure, a score of 0 is given. If passport holders must get government approval before leaving in order to obtain a visa on arrival, this also scores 0.

6. The score for each particular passport is then totalled by adding up its scores for all destinations.[10]

January 2021 results

As of 2021, a Japanese passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 191 countries, a Singapore passport offers its holders 190 countries, and South Korean passport and German passports each offer 189 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries to their holders.[11] An Afghan passport has once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 26 destinations visa-free.[12]

2006–2015

European countries are notable for their stability over the past decade, and Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and Sweden all remain in exactly the same position as 10 years before. The 'Top 10s' were almost identical, with 30 countries in 2015, compared to 26 a decade before. While Liechtenstein dropped, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, and South Korea all made it into the top 10.

Taiwan, Albania, the United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Serbia all moved up more than 20 places in the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index over the period, while the biggest drops were experienced by Guinea (−32), Liberia (−33), Sierra Leone (−35), and Bolivia (−37).

Older rankings

In the table below, the "access" columns denote the number of visa-free destinations for holders of that passport. Unless indicated otherwise, the data in this table is taken from these[7][13] sources.

Country 2020
Rank
2020
Access
2019
Rank
2010
Rank
2006
Rank
 Japan 1191 1 6 3
 Singapore 2190 1 11 8
 Germany 3189 2 5 2
 South Korea 3189 2 13 11
 Finland 4188 2 4 1
 Italy 4188 3 5 3
 Luxembourg 4188 3 4 3
 Spain 4188 4 6 4
 Austria 5187 5 8 6
 Denmark 5187 3 2 1
 France 6186 4 5 3
 Ireland 6186 6 7 2
 Netherlands 6186 5 5 5
 Portugal 6186 5 8 7
 Sweden 6186 4 3 2
 Belgium 7185 6 6 4
  Switzerland 7185 6 10 4
 Norway 7185 6 7 4
 United Kingdom 7185 6 1 3
 United States 7185 6 7 1
 Czech Republic 8184 7 18 21
 Greece 8184 6 12 9
 Malta 8184 7 15 11
 New Zealand 8184 8 9 6
 Australia 9183 9 9 9
 Canada 9183 6 9 6
 Hungary 10182 10 18 19
 Lithuania 11181 9 19 24
 Poland 11181 13 16 16
 Slovakia 11181 9 17 22
 Iceland 12180 10 13 9
 Latvia 12180 10 20 26
 Slovenia 12180 10 17 17
 Estonia 13179 11 19 26
 Liechtenstein 14178 12 14 10
 Malaysia 14178 12 13 9
 Monaco 15175 14 21 15
 Chile 16174 13 27 14
 Cyprus 16174 14 18 12
 Romania 17172 16 22 34
 Bulgaria 18171 17 25 29
 Argentina 19170 17 26 19
 Brazil 19170 17 28 20
 Croatia 19170 18 35 28
 Hong Kong 19170 18 19 13
 United Arab Emirates 19170 15 65 62
 San Marino 20168 19 23 14
 Andorra 21167 20 27 20
 Brunei 22166 21 24 19
 Barbados 23161 22 29 35
 Israel 24160 22 25 18
 Mexico 25159 23 32 21
 Saint Kitts and Nevis 26156 24 31 40
 Bahamas 27155 24 30 35
 Uruguay 28153 25 34 20
 Antigua and Barbuda 29151 28 33 39
 Seychelles 29151 26 39 46
 Costa Rica 30150 27 37 23
 Trinidad and Tobago 30150 29 45 36
  Vatican City 31149 29 39
 Mauritius 32148 30 40 46
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 32148 31 47 38
 Saint Lucia 33146 31 46 39
 Taiwan 33146 31 69 55
 Macau 34144 33 44 35
 Grenada 35143 32 49 41
 Paraguay 36142 32 39 30
 Panama 37141 34 41 30
 Dominica 38140 35 51 46
 Peru 39135 36 58 56
 El Salvador 40134 37 42 31
 Honduras 40134 37 42 32
 Serbia 40134 39 47 64
 Guatemala 41133 38 42 30
 Samoa 42131 39 53 49
 Solomon Islands 42131 40 52 44
 Vanuatu 43130 40 55 51
 Nicaragua 44129 41 43 33
 Ukraine 44129 43 65 64
 Venezuela 44129 38 36 25
 Colombia 45127 43 73 64
 Tuvalu 45127 42 54 48
 Tonga 46125 44 57 52
 Montenegro 47124 46 48
 North Macedonia 47124 45 46
 Kiribati 48122 46 56 49
 Marshall Islands 48122 46 66 61
 Moldova 49120 47 66
 Palau 50119 47 70
 F.S. Micronesia 51118 47 69
 Russia 51118 48 49 62
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 52117 49 74 71
 Georgia 53116 50 72 68
 Albania 54114 51 78 79
 Turkey 55111 52 46 46
 Belize 56101 54 50 42
 South Africa 56101 53 47 37
 Kuwait 5795 56 58 58
 Qatar 5795 57 63 60
 East Timor 5795 55 85
 Ecuador 5891 58 64 56
 Nauru 5989 60 56 54
 Fiji 6088 59 57 51
 Guyana 6088 60 57 45
 Jamaica 6186 61 56 45
 Botswana 6285 62 60 50
 Maldives 6285 61 56 52
 Papua New Guinea 6384 62 59 56
 Bahrain 6482 63 62 59
 Oman 6579 64 68 61
 Bolivia 6678 65 67 29
 Suriname 6678 65 66 57
 Thailand 6678 66 69 67
 Namibia 6777 67 62 56
 Saudi Arabia 6777 69 71 65
 Kazakhstan 6876 68 73 68
 Belarus 6975 67 72 64
 Lesotho 6975 69 64 47
 China 7074 72 88 78
 Eswatini 7074 70 65 52
 Malawi 7173 71 64 50
 Kenya 7272 72 64 52
 Indonesia 7371 73 84 67
 Tanzania 7371 75 68 56
 Zambia 7371 73 65 53
 Tunisia 7469 75 67 59
 Gambia 7568 74 61 45
 Azerbaijan 7667 76 76 68
 Philippines 7667 77 73 63
 Uganda 7667 76 70 58
 Cape Verde 7766 76 73
 Dominican Republic 7865 78 77 71
 Ghana 7865 77 67 53
 Zimbabwe 7865 78 70 56
 Cuba 7964 77 78 69
 Morocco 7964 80 76 66
 Armenia 8063 81 76 69
 Kyrgyzstan 8063 80 74 68
 Sierra Leone 8063 79 64 51
 Benin 8162 80 73 61
 Mozambique 8162 81 82 74
 Mongolia 8162 80 82 72
 São Tomé and Príncipe 8261 81 83 74
 Rwanda 8360 84 87 73
 Burkina Faso 8459 83 76 62
 Mauritania 8459 83 40 58
 India 8558 82 77 71
 Tajikistan 8558 84 77 69
 Gabon 8657 85 85 72
 Ivory Coast 8657 84 72
 Uzbekistan 8657 85 80 72
 Senegal 8756 86 76 60
 Equatorial Guinea 8855 89 89 76
 Guinea 8855 85 75 60
 Madagascar 8855 87 83 71
 Togo 8855 86 76 62
 Cambodia 8954 88 87 79
 Mali 8954 87 75 59
 Niger 8954 87 76 60
 Vietnam 8954 90 84 78
 Bhutan 9053 89 83 77
 Chad 9053 88 82
 Comoros 9053 88 89
 Guinea-Bissau 9053 87 79 63
 Turkmenistan 9053 90 86 77
 Central African Republic 9152 90 81 68
 Algeria 9251 91 79 73
 Jordan 9251 92 97 75
 Angola 9350 92 92 77
 Burundi 9350 93 89 78
 Egypt 9350 92 84
 Laos 9350 92 85 76
 Cameroon 9449 92 85 70
 Haiti 9449 92 85 74
 Liberia 9449 93 82 65
 Congo 9548 94 85 69
 Djibouti 9647 95 91 77
 Myanmar 9647 95 92 81
 Nigeria 9746 95 76 62
 Ethiopia 9844 97 92 78
 South Sudan 9943 97
 DR Congo 10042 97 90
 Eritrea 10042 99 93 76
 Sri Lanka 10042 96 84 74
 Bangladesh 10141 99 85 68
 Iran 10141 99 92 82
 Kosovo 10240 98 89
 Lebanon 10240 100 94 79
 Sudan 10240 102 96 79
 North Korea 10339 100 90 78
 Libya 10438 100 87 77
   Nepal 10438 101 88 76
 Palestine 10438 102 97
 Somalia 10533 104 95 81
 Yemen 10533 103 88 78
 Pakistan 10632 104 90 79
 Syria 10729 105 87 80
 Iraq 10828 106 97 81
 Afghanistan 10926 107 98 83

See also

References

  1. Smith, Oliver (29 February 2016). "The world's most powerful passports". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  2. "Visa Restriction Index 2006 to 2016 2018". visaindex.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  3. Andrejevic, Mark and Volcic, Zala (2016). Commercial Nationalism: Selling the Nation and Nationalizing the Sell. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. ISBN 9781137500984
  4. "Rights of Passage — Henley Passport Index 2018". Henley & Partners Passport Index. Henley & Partners Holdings Ltd. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018. ...what are the political factors governing the strength of your passport? Perhaps more importantly, if your passport is not serving you, what can you do to enhance it? The 2018 Henley Passport Index was designed with these questions in mind. Launched 9 January, and replacing the Henley Visa Restrictions Index, the Henley Passport Index provides a ranking
  5. Abrahamian, Atossa Araxia (2015). The Cosmopolites: The Coming of the Global Citizen, pp. 70–93. Colombia Global Reports, New York. ISBN 9780990976363
  6. "The Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index 2016" (PDF). henleyglobal.com. Henley & Partners. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  7. "Henley Passport Index". Henley Passport Index. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  8. Kalin, Christian H. Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook (5 ed.). Ideos Publications. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-3-9524052-7-7.
  9. Kalin, Christian H. Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook (5 ed.). Ideos Publications. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-3-9524052-7-7.
  10. "Henley Passport Index 2006 to 2018". Henley & Partners Passport Index. Henley & Partners Holdings Ltd. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2018. The index and its contents are based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and supplemented, enhanced, and updated using extensive in-house research and open-source online data. The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations. Updated in real-time throughout the year, as and when visa-policy changes come into effect...On a fixed date each year, Henley & Partners receives exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA), which forms the basis of the Henley Passport Index. In order to maintain the accuracy of the data provided by IATA in the face of constant updates to visa policy, and in order to create detailed visa lists for all 199 passports in our database, the Henley & Partners research team uses publicly available and reliable online sources to cross-check each passport against all 227 possible travel destinations. This research process is ongoing throughout the year. It is coupled with a rigorous monitoring system to pick up relevant visa-policy shifts.
  11. "Henley Index: Japan tops 2020 list of world's most powerful passports". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  12. Madden, Duncan (10 January 2020). "The Most Powerful Passports In The World In 2020". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  13. "Henley Passport Global Ranking". Henley Passport Index. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
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