According to the Henley Passport Index of 2019, Japan and Singapore offer the most travel-friendly Passports in the Modern World.
Henley and Partners, which periodically measures how travel-friendly is a country’s travel documents, have released their quarterly report on the world’s most desirable passports.
In the final quarter of 2019, Japan and Singapore have held the position to offer the world’s most travel-friendly passports.
Singapore and Japan’s passports are at the top of the rankings as both documents offer access to 190 countries each without a prior visa.
South Korea, Finland, and Germany are in second place in the travel-friendly passports, with citizens of all three countries able to visit 188 jurisdictions around the world.
Finland being benefited from recent changes to Pakistan’s formerly highly restrictive visa policy. Pakistan now offers an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) to citizens of 50 countries, including Finland, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates — but not for the United States or the UK.
Denmark, Italy, and Luxembourg hold third place in the index, with visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 187 countries.
France, Spain, and Sweden jointly take the fourth position on the travel-friendly passport rankings, with a score of 186 countries.
In 2014 the United States and the UK topped the rankings. However, these two countries have now fallen down to sixth place. This is the lowest position either has held since 2010.
The United Arab Emirates continues to rise up in the rankings, this time by five places to 15th spot.
According to Lorraine Charles at Cambridge University’s Centre – “It’s the strongest climber this quarter”.
Afghanistan has once again found themselves at the bottom of the rankings. As its citizens require a prior visa for all except 25 countries.
These latest rankings from the Henley Passport Index depict that most countries increasingly infer visa-openness as crucial to economic and social progress.
