Henley Passport Index
The Henley Passport Index (abbreviation: HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom allowed by those countries' ordinary passports for their citizens.[2] It started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI)[3] and was changed and renamed in January 2018.[4]
Type of site | Passport guidance |
---|---|
Available in | English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian |
Headquarters | London[1] |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Owner | Henley & Partners |
URL | www |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | None |
Launched | 2005 |
Current status | Online |
The index annually ranks 199 passports of the world by the number of countries that their holders can travel to without visas.[5] The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free "score". In collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA),[6] and using official data from their global database, Henley & Partners has analysed the visa regulations of almost all the world's countries and territories since 2006.[3][7]
Definition of the Index
The Henley Passport index (HPI) ranks passports according to the number of destinations that can be reached using a particular country's ordinary passport without the need of a prior visa ("visa-free").[8][9] The survey ranks 199 passports against 227 destination[10] countries, territories, and micro-states.[11][12][13]
All destinations that are in the IATA database are considered by the index. The IATA maintains a database of travel information worldwide.[14] However, because not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations about which queries are made.[15]
Method
To determine the score for each country or territory,[16] its passport is checked against the IATA database in several steps:
- 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.
- Each query must satisfy certain conditions:
- passport is issued in the country of nationality
- passport holder is an adult citizen of the country that 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
- Further conditions:
- queries are made only for holders of normal passports, not diplomatic, service, emergency, or temporary passports; and other travel documents are disregarded
- passport holders need 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
- 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.
- Where visas are needed, or where passport holders must 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.
- The score for each passport is then totalled by adding up its scores for all destinations.[17]
- The index ignores temporary restrictions or airspace closures.[18]
- It considers mobility data based on national GDPs and the percentage of global wealth that the country's passport could provide access to.[19]
Rankings
2023 Henley Passport Index
As of 8 September 2023, the Singaporean passport offers holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries and territories, followed by the Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, South Korean, Spanish and Swedish passports, each offering 190 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders. These rankings were subsequently followed by the Austrian, Danish, Irish, Luxembourgeois and British passports, each offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to 189 countries and territories.
Of the five countries of the Five Nations Passport Group (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States), the British passport offers highest visa-free or visa-on-arrival access (189 countries and territories), while the United States passport offers the lowest visa-free or visa-on-arrival access. In South America, the Chilean passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 174 countries and territories, the highest in the region, followed by the Argentine passport which offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 169 countries and territories and the Brazilian passport which offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 168 countries.
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 27 destinations visa-free.[20][21] This was followed by the Iraqi passport at 29 destinations and the Syrian passport at 30 destinations.[22]
2022 Henley Passport Index
As of 2022, a Japanese passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries and territories, with South Korean and Singapore passports each offering 192 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders.[23][24] An American passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 186 countries and territories, with the British passport offering 187 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders. Canadian and Australian passports each offer their holders visa-free access to 185 countries and territories.[25]
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 27 destinations visa-free.[26]
2006–2015
A number of Asian and European countries are notable for their stability over the past decade, and Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, 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 Herzegovina, 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 sources.[27][28]
Country | 2020 rank |
2020 access |
2019 rank |
2010 rank |
2006 rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | 1 | 191 | 1 | 6 | 3 |
Singapore | 2 | 190 | 1 | 11 | 8 |
Germany | 3 | 189 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
South Korea | 3 | 189 | 2 | 13 | 11 |
Finland | 4 | 188 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
Italy | 4 | 188 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
Luxembourg | 4 | 188 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Spain | 4 | 188 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
Austria | 5 | 187 | 5 | 8 | 6 |
Denmark | 5 | 187 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
France | 6 | 186 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
Ireland | 6 | 186 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
Netherlands | 6 | 186 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Portugal | 6 | 186 | 5 | 8 | 7 |
Sweden | 6 | 186 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Belgium | 7 | 185 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
Switzerland | 7 | 185 | 6 | 10 | 4 |
Norway | 7 | 185 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
United Kingdom | 7 | 185 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
United States | 7 | 185 | 6 | 7 | 1 |
Czech Republic | 8 | 184 | 7 | 18 | 21 |
Greece | 8 | 184 | 6 | 12 | 9 |
Malta | 8 | 184 | 7 | 15 | 11 |
New Zealand | 8 | 184 | 8 | 9 | 6 |
Australia | 9 | 183 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
Canada | 9 | 183 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
Hungary | 10 | 182 | 10 | 18 | 19 |
Lithuania | 11 | 181 | 9 | 19 | 24 |
Poland | 11 | 181 | 13 | 16 | 16 |
Slovakia | 11 | 181 | 9 | 17 | 22 |
Iceland | 12 | 180 | 10 | 13 | 9 |
Latvia | 12 | 180 | 10 | 20 | 26 |
Slovenia | 12 | 180 | 10 | 17 | 17 |
Estonia | 13 | 179 | 11 | 19 | 26 |
Liechtenstein | 14 | 178 | 12 | 14 | 10 |
Malaysia | 14 | 178 | 12 | 13 | 9 |
Monaco | 15 | 175 | 14 | 21 | 15 |
Chile | 16 | 174 | 13 | 27 | 14 |
Cyprus | 16 | 174 | 14 | 18 | 12 |
Romania | 17 | 172 | 16 | 22 | 34 |
Bulgaria | 18 | 171 | 17 | 25 | 29 |
Argentina | 19 | 170 | 17 | 26 | 19 |
Brazil | 19 | 170 | 17 | 28 | 20 |
Croatia | 19 | 170 | 18 | 35 | 28 |
Hong Kong | 19 | 170 | 18 | 19 | 13 |
United Arab Emirates | 19 | 170 | 15 | 65 | 62 |
San Marino | 20 | 168 | 19 | 23 | 14 |
Andorra | 21 | 167 | 20 | 27 | 20 |
Brunei | 22 | 166 | 21 | 24 | 19 |
Barbados | 23 | 161 | 22 | 29 | 35 |
Israel | 24 | 160 | 22 | 25 | 18 |
Mexico | 25 | 159 | 23 | 32 | 21 |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | 26 | 156 | 24 | 31 | 40 |
Bahamas | 27 | 155 | 24 | 30 | 35 |
Uruguay | 28 | 153 | 25 | 34 | 20 |
Antigua and Barbuda | 29 | 151 | 28 | 33 | 39 |
Seychelles | 29 | 151 | 26 | 39 | 46 |
Costa Rica | 30 | 150 | 27 | 37 | 23 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 30 | 150 | 29 | 45 | 36 |
Vatican City | 31 | 149 | 29 | 39 | |
Mauritius | 32 | 148 | 30 | 40 | 46 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 32 | 148 | 31 | 47 | 38 |
Saint Lucia | 33 | 146 | 31 | 46 | 39 |
Taiwan | 33 | 146 | 31 | 69 | 55 |
Macau | 34 | 144 | 33 | 44 | 35 |
Grenada | 35 | 143 | 32 | 49 | 41 |
Paraguay | 36 | 142 | 32 | 39 | 30 |
Panama | 37 | 141 | 34 | 41 | 30 |
Dominica | 38 | 140 | 35 | 51 | 46 |
Peru | 39 | 135 | 36 | 58 | 56 |
El Salvador | 40 | 134 | 37 | 42 | 31 |
Honduras | 40 | 134 | 37 | 42 | 32 |
Serbia | 40 | 134 | 39 | 47 | 64 |
Guatemala | 41 | 133 | 38 | 42 | 30 |
Samoa | 42 | 131 | 39 | 53 | 49 |
Solomon Islands | 42 | 131 | 40 | 52 | 44 |
Vanuatu | 43 | 130 | 40 | 55 | 51 |
Nicaragua | 44 | 129 | 41 | 43 | 33 |
Ukraine | 44 | 129 | 43 | 65 | 64 |
Venezuela | 44 | 129 | 38 | 36 | 25 |
Colombia | 45 | 127 | 43 | 73 | 64 |
Tuvalu | 45 | 127 | 42 | 54 | 48 |
Tonga | 46 | 125 | 44 | 57 | 52 |
Montenegro | 47 | 124 | 46 | 48 | |
North Macedonia | 47 | 124 | 45 | 46 | |
Kiribati | 48 | 122 | 46 | 56 | 49 |
Marshall Islands | 48 | 122 | 46 | 66 | 61 |
Moldova | 49 | 120 | 47 | 66 | |
Palau | 50 | 119 | 47 | 70 | |
Micronesia | 51 | 118 | 47 | 69 | |
Russia | 51 | 118 | 48 | 49 | 62 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 52 | 117 | 49 | 74 | 71 |
Georgia | 53 | 116 | 50 | 72 | 68 |
Albania | 54 | 114 | 51 | 78 | 79 |
Turkey | 55 | 111 | 52 | 46 | 46 |
Belize | 56 | 101 | 54 | 50 | 42 |
South Africa | 56 | 101 | 53 | 47 | 37 |
Kuwait | 57 | 95 | 56 | 58 | 58 |
Qatar | 57 | 95 | 57 | 63 | 60 |
East Timor | 57 | 95 | 55 | 85 | |
Ecuador | 58 | 91 | 58 | 64 | 56 |
Nauru | 59 | 89 | 60 | 56 | 54 |
Fiji | 60 | 88 | 59 | 57 | 51 |
Guyana | 60 | 88 | 60 | 57 | 45 |
Jamaica | 61 | 86 | 61 | 56 | 45 |
Botswana | 62 | 85 | 62 | 60 | 50 |
Maldives | 62 | 85 | 61 | 56 | 52 |
Papua New Guinea | 63 | 84 | 62 | 59 | 56 |
Bahrain | 64 | 82 | 63 | 62 | 59 |
Oman | 65 | 79 | 64 | 68 | 61 |
Bolivia | 66 | 78 | 65 | 67 | 29 |
Suriname | 66 | 78 | 65 | 66 | 57 |
Thailand | 66 | 78 | 66 | 69 | 67 |
Namibia | 67 | 77 | 67 | 62 | 56 |
Saudi Arabia | 67 | 77 | 69 | 71 | 65 |
Kazakhstan | 68 | 76 | 68 | 73 | 68 |
Belarus | 69 | 75 | 67 | 72 | 64 |
Lesotho | 69 | 75 | 69 | 64 | 47 |
China | 70 | 74 | 72 | 88 | 78 |
Eswatini | 70 | 74 | 70 | 65 | 52 |
Malawi | 71 | 73 | 71 | 64 | 50 |
Kenya | 72 | 72 | 72 | 64 | 52 |
Indonesia | 73 | 71 | 73 | 84 | 67 |
Tanzania | 73 | 71 | 75 | 68 | 56 |
Zambia | 73 | 71 | 73 | 65 | 53 |
Tunisia | 74 | 69 | 75 | 67 | 59 |
Gambia | 75 | 68 | 74 | 61 | 45 |
Azerbaijan | 76 | 67 | 76 | 76 | 68 |
Philippines | 76 | 67 | 77 | 73 | 63 |
Uganda | 76 | 67 | 76 | 70 | 58 |
Cape Verde | 77 | 66 | 76 | 73 | |
Dominican Republic | 78 | 65 | 78 | 77 | 71 |
Ghana | 78 | 65 | 77 | 67 | 53 |
Zimbabwe | 78 | 65 | 78 | 70 | 56 |
Cuba | 79 | 64 | 77 | 78 | 69 |
Morocco | 79 | 64 | 80 | 76 | 66 |
Armenia | 80 | 63 | 81 | 76 | 69 |
Kyrgyzstan | 80 | 63 | 80 | 74 | 68 |
Sierra Leone | 80 | 63 | 79 | 64 | 51 |
Benin | 81 | 62 | 80 | 73 | 61 |
Mozambique | 81 | 62 | 81 | 82 | 74 |
Mongolia | 81 | 62 | 80 | 82 | 72 |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 82 | 61 | 81 | 83 | 74 |
Rwanda | 83 | 60 | 84 | 87 | 73 |
Burkina Faso | 84 | 59 | 83 | 76 | 62 |
Mauritania | 84 | 59 | 83 | 40 | 58 |
India | 85 | 58 | 82 | 77 | 71 |
Tajikistan | 85 | 58 | 84 | 77 | 69 |
Gabon | 86 | 57 | 85 | 85 | 72 |
Ivory Coast | 86 | 57 | 84 | 72 | |
Uzbekistan | 86 | 57 | 85 | 80 | 72 |
Senegal | 87 | 56 | 86 | 76 | 60 |
Equatorial Guinea | 88 | 55 | 89 | 89 | 76 |
Guinea | 88 | 55 | 85 | 75 | 60 |
Madagascar | 88 | 55 | 87 | 83 | 71 |
Togo | 88 | 55 | 86 | 76 | 62 |
Cambodia | 89 | 54 | 88 | 87 | 79 |
Mali | 89 | 54 | 87 | 75 | 59 |
Niger | 89 | 54 | 87 | 76 | 60 |
Vietnam | 89 | 54 | 90 | 84 | 78 |
Bhutan | 90 | 53 | 89 | 83 | 77 |
Chad | 90 | 53 | 88 | 82 | |
Comoros | 90 | 53 | 88 | 89 | |
Guinea-Bissau | 90 | 53 | 87 | 79 | 63 |
Turkmenistan | 90 | 53 | 90 | 86 | 77 |
Central African Republic | 91 | 52 | 90 | 81 | 68 |
Algeria | 92 | 51 | 91 | 79 | 73 |
Jordan | 92 | 51 | 92 | 97 | 75 |
Angola | 93 | 50 | 92 | 92 | 77 |
Burundi | 93 | 50 | 93 | 89 | 78 |
Egypt | 93 | 50 | 92 | 84 | |
Laos | 93 | 50 | 92 | 85 | 76 |
Cameroon | 94 | 49 | 92 | 85 | 70 |
Haiti | 94 | 49 | 92 | 85 | 74 |
Liberia | 94 | 49 | 93 | 82 | 65 |
Congo | 95 | 48 | 94 | 85 | 69 |
Djibouti | 96 | 47 | 95 | 91 | 77 |
Myanmar | 96 | 47 | 95 | 92 | 81 |
Nigeria | 97 | 46 | 95 | 76 | 62 |
Ethiopia | 98 | 44 | 97 | 92 | 78 |
South Sudan | 99 | 43 | 97 | ||
DR Congo | 100 | 42 | 97 | 90 | |
Eritrea | 100 | 42 | 99 | 93 | 76 |
Sri Lanka | 100 | 42 | 96 | 84 | 74 |
Bangladesh | 101 | 41 | 99 | 85 | 68 |
Iran | 101 | 41 | 99 | 92 | 82 |
Kosovo | 102 | 40 | 98 | 89 | |
Lebanon | 102 | 40 | 100 | 94 | 79 |
Sudan | 102 | 40 | 102 | 96 | 79 |
North Korea | 103 | 39 | 100 | 90 | 78 |
Libya | 104 | 38 | 100 | 87 | 77 |
Nepal | 104 | 38 | 101 | 88 | 76 |
Palestine | 104 | 38 | 102 | 97 | |
Somalia | 105 | 33 | 104 | 95 | 81 |
Yemen | 105 | 33 | 103 | 88 | 78 |
Pakistan | 106 | 32 | 104 | 90 | 79 |
Syria | 107 | 29 | 105 | 87 | 80 |
Iraq | 108 | 28 | 106 | 97 | 81 |
Afghanistan | 109 | 26 | 107 | 98 | 83 |
See also
References
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- 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.
- Lmahamad, Ayya (11 January 2023). "Azerbaijan improves its position in World Passport Index". Azer News.
- Andrejevic, Mark and Volcic, Zala (2016). Commercial Nationalism: Selling the Nation and Nationalizing the Sell. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. ISBN 9781137500984
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- "How powerful is your country's passport in 2023?". Quartz. 24 January 2023.
- Abrahamian, Atossa Araxia (2015). The Cosmopolites: The Coming of the Global Citizen, pp. 70–93. Colombia Global Reports, New York. ISBN 9780990976363
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- Gleeson, Colin (19 July 2022). "Irish passport ranked joint sixth most powerful globally". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- Fernandez, Celia. "Japan has the No. 1 most powerful passport in the world for 2023—see where the U.S. lands on the list". CNBC.
- "How powerful is the Indian passport? Check out Henley Index ranking". Zee Business. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- McDonagh, Shannon (31 January 2022). "These are the world's most powerful passports in 2022". Euronews. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- Neammanee, Pocharapon (28 July 2022). "The Most Powerful Passports in the World in 2022, Ranked". Entrepreneur magazine.
- "Pakistani passport remains fourth-worst in the world: Henley index". Dawn (newspaper). 20 July 2022.
- Kalin, Christian H. (2015). Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook (5 ed.). Ideos Publications. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-3-9524052-7-7.
- Kalin, Christian H. (2015). Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook (5 ed.). Ideos Publications. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-3-9524052-7-7.
- "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.
- O'Hare, Maureen (19 July 2022). "The world's most powerful passports for 2022". CNN.
- Klawans, Justin. "10 of the world's most powerful passports". The Week.
- "Italy's New Luxury Hotels, The Most Powerful Passports, Delta's Free Wifi And More". Forbes.
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- Whitley, Angus. "Europe once offered the world's most powerful passports. Not anymore". Fortune. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- "The World's Most Powerful Passports in 2022". OnlineVisa.
- "Canadian Passport Ranked Eighth Most Powerful In World - Canada Immigration and Visa Information. Canadian Immigration Services and Free Online Evaluation". Canadian Citizenship & Immigration Resource Center. 21 July 2022.
- Madden, Duncan (10 January 2020). "The Most Powerful Passports In The World In 2020". Forbes. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
- "Henley Passport Index". Henley Passport Index. Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
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Further reading
- Bai, Jianyin; Chen, Yin; Long, Yong (2021). "The structural equivalence of tourism cooperative network in the Belt and Road Initiative Area". Environmental Research. 197: 111043. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.111043.
- Bagchi, Pushpi (2021). "The Politics of a Passport to Design Practice". Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication II: Research, Innovations and Best Practices. Springer International Publishing. pp. 273–287. ISBN 978-3-030-75867-7.
- Boatcă, Manuela (2021). "Unequal institutions in the longue durée: citizenship through a Southern lens". Third World Quarterly. 42 (9): 1982–2000. doi:10.1080/01436597.2021.1923398.
- Dervin, Fred; Jacobsson, Andreas (2021). "Engaging Critically with Travel/Tourism and Interculturality". Teacher Education for Critical and Reflexive Interculturality. Springer International Publishing. pp. 133–148. ISBN 978-3-030-66337-7.
- Okagbue, Hilary I.; Oguntunde, Pelumi E.; Bishop, Sheila A.; Adamu, Patience I.; Akhmetshin, Elvir M.; Iroham, Chukwuemeka O. (2021). "Significant Predictors of Henley Passport Index". Journal of International Migration and Integration. 22 (1): 21–32. doi:10.1007/s12134-019-00726-4. ISSN 1874-6365.