CNN reported Tuesday that a London-based travel firm ranked the Pakistani passport among the five worst out of 109 countries.
Pakistani passport holders can enter 35 countries visa-free or visa-on-arrival, followed by Syria (25), Iraq (29), and Afghanistan (27 destinations).
Henley & Partners, a London-based global citizenship and residence advice organisation, ranked Japan’s passport as the most travel-friendly.
Asia has the top three most powerful passports. The Japanese passport allows the most global travel, followed by Singapore and South Korea.
Japanese passports offer visa-free or visa-on-demand travel to 193 countries. Singaporeans and South Koreans can visit 192 other countries.
After Asia, most powerful passports are European.
Germany and Spain passports allow bearers to visit 190 countries, followed by Italy, Luxembourg, and Finland.
Denmark, Sweden, Austria, and Netherlands are tied at fifth; France, Ireland, Portugal, and the UK are sixth.
The US passport ranks seventh, along with those of Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
Afghan passport holders can enter 27 countries visa-free or visa-on-arrival.
- Japanese (193 destinations)
- Singapore, Korea (192 destinations)
- Spain, Germany (190 destinations)
- Italy, Finland, Luxembourg (189 destinations)
- Sweden, Denmark, Austria (188 destinations)
- Ireland, Portugal, UK (187 destinations)
- Belgium, NZ, Switzerland, US, Czech Republic (186 destinations)
- Canada, Greece, Australia, Malta (185 destinations)
- Poland, Hungary (184 destinations)
- Slovakia, Lithuania (183 destinations)
Countries with 40 or fewer visa-free or visa-on-arrival destinations are the worst in 2023.
- Iran (40 destinations)
- Nepal, PLO (38 destinations)
- Kenya (35 destinations)
- Yemen (34 destinations)
- Pakistan (32 destinations)
- Syria (30 destinations)
- Iraq (29 destinations)
- Afghan (27 destinations)
Pandemic travel
Before COVID-19, the IMF ranked tourism as one of the world’s top industries. It accounts for 10% of global GDP and 320 million jobs.
Pandemic and subsequent prohibition on international flights drastically reduced international travel.
According to the Henley Passport Index, worldwide travel is at 75% of pre-pandemic levels.
Now that the Asia-Pacific is permitting individuals to travel into and out of the region, inhabitants of the most powerful Asian countries will likely travel again.
Thesaurus
The Henley & Partner ranking is just one of many indexes established by financial firms to rate passports based on access.
Arton Capital’s Passport Index ranks the passports of 193 UN members and six territories: ROC Taiwan, Macau (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, and the Vatican.
This index is updated year-round, but its data comes from government portals.
Armand Arton, founder of Arton Capital, says the index provides travellers with accurate, easy-to-access information.
UAE passport has a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 181 on Arton’s Global Passport Power Rank 2023.
11 predominantly European countries share second place. Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and South Korea.
The US and UK share third place with Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, Norway, Poland, Ireland, and New Zealand.
