AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Highlights:
- Henley Passport Index (HPI) is released by Henley and Partners.
- Only 6% of the countries around the globe provide access to more than 70% of the global economy to their passport holders.
- Japanese passport has the highest HPI in the world.
Often, the power of a country is determined by the number of nuclear weapons it possess or the GDP. But one of the other important factor is the access it is able to grant to its citizens in terms of foreign travel which is determined by the passport of the country.
For a citizen of a country, to have ease of access to other countries without facing many issues is a major relief. Post-pandemic situations are still improving and the travel sector is yet to recover fully to reach its previous levels. In such times, what is offered by the passport of any country becomes very significant for the individuals.
Recently, the Henley Passport Index (HPI) for 2023 was released based on the information provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The database of IATA provides one of the largest, most accurate travel information which is enhanced by the research team of Henley & Partners.
Where do passports rank?
As per the latest report form Henley and Partners, Japanese passport has the highest HPI in the world making it top ranking. It provides visa-free access to 193 destinations in the world, approximately equal to 85% of the world and 98% of the global economy collectively with 5% contribution of Japan’s GDP.
As per Henley Passport Power score, only 6% of the world’s countries are able to provide the access to more than 70% of the global economy to their passport holders and only 17% of countries provide visa-free access to more than 80% of 227 destinations of the world.
The Australian passports stands at the eighth position in the world. Indian passport is ranked eighty-fifth in the world.
Data source: Henley and Partners, Image source: © 2023 Krish Capital Pty. Ltd.
Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan passports are in the bottom five in terms of global ranking in the world.
Scoring mechanism
The Henley Global Mobility Report features comments from major scholars and experts on the trends which can influence mobility patterns. Geopolitical situations, repercussions of war, effect of climate change, global migration, to name a few, are factors which can affect mobility across the world.
IATA is the trade association of world airlines which represents nearly 83% of the world traffic. Several areas related to the aviation activities are supported by IATA and it also helps in formulating the industry policy on critical aviation issues. More than 120 countries are part of IATA and the non-member countries also sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IATA for mutual benefits.
HPI provides the primary, trustworthy ranking of all the world’s passports based on destinations which can be accessed without a prior visa by the holders. HPI compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports across 227 travel destinations scoring them either 1 or 0.
The score is provided based on the two criteria’s:
A score with a value of 1 means no visa is required or visa on arrival or a visitor’s permit or an electronic travel authority can be acquired by the passport holder.
A score of value 0 is assigned if holders need to obtain a visa, a government approved e-visa before departure, pre-departure approval by the government for visa on arrival.
