Traveling is a fundamental part that hundreds of people seek to do at some point in their lives, knowing new places, living new adventures or exploring different destinations is something that many dream of. However, the populations of each of the countries that make up the planet have advantages and disadvantages when moving from one nation to another. If there are good relations between 2 countries, their inhabitants will be able to travel freely, but if there are not, they will have to resort to visas or special permits.
The Henley Passport Index is a platform where, by means of an annual list, the freedom to travel around the world is measured based on the degree of access without a visa and with a visa that the citizens of each country on the planet enjoy. For this 2023, the ranking had a surprise since Singapore climbed to the first position, because its citizens have the freedom to visit 193 out of 227 destinations without having to obtain a visa. For its part, Japan, which had remained at the top of the list for 5 consecutive years, fell to third place.
The Asian continent has long dominated the top of the index leaderboard that was created by global citizenship and residency advisory firm Henley & Partners. It should be noted that Europe has been recovering with the rise to second position of the nations of Germany, Spain and Italy that offer their citizens the opportunity to travel to 190 destinations without a visa. In third place, as previously mentioned, are Japan, South Korea, Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg and Sucia, which can access 189 destinations without the need to issue a visa.
For their part, the United States and the United Kingdom have witnessed a downward trend since they occupied the top spot on the list in 2014. The UK in recent years has tried to turn things around and this year managed to climb 2 places to No. 4 in the ranking. While the Stars and Stripes nation dropped another two places to eighth place. The United States only has access to 183 destinations without the need for a visa. The Henley Passport Index is updated based on data from the International Air-Transport Association (IATA), where it classifies 199 passports from around the world. The index issues real-time updates throughout the year as visa policy changes come into effect.
Just as the countries that are at the top of the list have several destinations to which their citizens can travel freely, the nations that are at the bottom have a much smaller offer. The gap between the top and bottom places is wider than ever. For example, in the last 3 positions are Syria at 101 with the possibility of offering its citizens 30 destinations without the need to obtain a prior visa, then there is Iraq that offers the opportunity to go to 29 destinations and even below the list is Afghanistan with 27 destinations.
The top 10 is made up of:
- Singapore (192 destinations)
- Germany, Italy, Spain (190 destinations)
- Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, Sweden (189)
- Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, United Kingdom (188 destinations)
- Belgium, Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland (187 destinations)
- Australia, Hungary, Poland (186 destinations)
- Canada, Greece (185 destinations)
- Lithuania, United States (184 destinations)
- Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia (183 destinations)
- Estonia, Iceland (182 destinations)
