Henley Passport Index


The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom of holders of their ordinary – as opposed to diplomatic – passport holders.[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 for 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 the vast majority of the countries and territories in the world since 2006.[6]

2021 Henley Passport IndexEdit

2021
rank[7]
Passport issuing country Visa-free
destinations
1   Japan 193
2   Singapore 192
3   Germany 191
  South Korea 191
4   Finland 190
  Italy 190
  Luxembourg 190
  Spain 190
5   Austria 189
  Denmark 189
6   France 188
  Ireland 188
  Netherlands 188
  Portugal 188
  Sweden 188
7   Belgium 187
  New Zealand 187
   Switzerland 187
  United Kingdom 187
  United States 187
8   Czech Republic 186
  Greece 186
  Malta 186
  Norway 186
9   Australia 185
  Canada 185
10   Hungary 184
11   Lithuania 183
  Poland 183
  Slovakia 183
12   Estonia 182
  Iceland 182
  Latvia 182
  Slovenia 182
13   Liechtenstein 179
  Malaysia 179
14   Cyprus 176
15   Monaco 175
  United Arab Emirates 175
16   Bulgaria 174
  Chile 174
  Romania 174
17   Croatia 173
18   Hong Kong 171
19   Argentina 170
  Brazil 170
20   Andorra 169
  San Marino 169
21   Brunei 166
22   Barbados 161
23   Israel 159
  Mexico 159
24   Saint Kitts and Nevis 157
25   Bahamas 155
26   Vatican City 154
27   Uruguay 154
28   Seychelles 152
29   Antigua and Barbuda 151
  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 151
30   Costa Rica 150
  Trinidad and Tobago 150
31   Mauritius 146
  Saint Lucia 146
  Taiwan 146
32   Macau 145
33   Grenada 144
34   Dominica 143
35   Panama 142
36   Paraguay 141
37   Ukraine 137
38   Serbia 136
39   Peru 135
  Vanuatu 135
40   El Salvador 134
41   Guatemala 133
  Honduras 133
42   Samoa 131
  Solomon Islands 131
43   Colombia 130
  Venezuela 130
44   Tonga 129
45   Nicaragua 127
  Tuvalu 127
46   North Macedonia 126
47   Montenegro 124
48   Kiribati 123
  Marshall Islands 123
49   Moldova 121
50   Palau 120
51   Russia 119
52 Template:Country data Micronesia 118
53   Bosnia and Herzegovina 117
54   Georgia 116
55   Albania 115
56   Turkey 111
57   South Africa 102
58   Belize 101
59   Qatar 97
60   Kuwait 96
61   East Timor 94
62   Ecuador 92
63   Nauru 89
64   Fiji 88
65   Guyana 87
  Maldives 87
66   Botswana 86
67   Jamaica 85
68   Bahrain 83
69   Papua New Guinea 82
70   Oman 80
71   Bolivia 79
  Saudi Arabia 79
  Thailand 79
72   China 78
  Namibia 78
  Suriname 78
73   Belarus 77
  Lesotho 77
74   Kazakhstan 75
75   Eswatini 74
76   Malawi 73
77   Indonesia 72
  Kenya 72
  Tanzania 72
78   Tunisia 71
  Zambia 71
79   Dominican Republic 70
80   Azerbaijan 68
  Gambia 68
81   Cape Verde 67
  Uganda 67
82   Philippines 66
83   Zimbabwe 65
84   Armenia 64
  Cuba 64
  Ghana 64
  Morocco 64
85   Kyrgyzstan 63
  Mozambique 63
  Sierra Leone 63
86   Benin 62
  Mongolia 62
87   Rwanda 61
  São Tomé and Príncipe 61
88   Mauritania 60
89   Burkina Faso 59
90   Gabon 58
  India 58
  Tajikistan 58
91   Ivory Coast 57
  Uzbekistan 57
92   Equatorial Guinea 56
  Madagascar 56
  Senegal 56
93   Guinea 55
  Togo 55
94   Cambodia 54
  Chad 54
  Comoros 54
  Mali 54
  Niger 54
  Vietnam 54
95   Algeria 53
  Bhutan 53
  Central African Republic 53
  Guinea-Bissau 53
  Turkmenistan 53
96   Angola 51
  Burundi 51
  Egypt 51
  Jordan 51
97   Cameroon 50
  Laos 50
  Liberia 50
98   Congo 49
  Haiti 49
99   Djibouti 48
100   Myanmar 47
101   Nigeria 46
102   Ethiopia 45
103   South Sudan 44
104   DR Congo 43
  Eritrea 43
105   Iran 42
  Sri Lanka 42
106   Bangladesh 41
  Lebanon 41
  Sudan 41
107   Kosovo 40
  Libya 40
108   North Korea 39
109     Nepal 38
110   Palestine 37
111   Somalia 34
112   Yemen 33
113   Pakistan 32
114   Syria 29
115   Iraq 28
116   Afghanistan 26

Definition of the IndexEdit

The Henley Passport index (HPI) ranks passports according to how many destinations can be reached using a particular country's ordinary passport 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]

MethodologyEdit

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]

July 2021 resultsEdit

As of 2021, a Japanese passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries, a Singapore passport offers its holders 192 countries, and South Korean passport and German passports each offer 191 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]

2006–2015Edit

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 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 rankingsEdit

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 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
Template:Country data 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 alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

  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. 7.0 7.1 "Henley Passport Index". Henley Passport Index. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  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.

External linksEdit