CNBC reported that the world’s most influential passport ranking has caused a major upheaval this year.
For the first time since the Henry Passport Index began counting the rankings 19 years ago, six countries have ranked first in the ruling camp’s power.
In Asia, Japan and Singapore rose, while the other four were European countries. Four countries including Germany, France, Italy and Spain tied for the top spot in the passport power with visa-free entry to 194 countries along with Japan and Singapore. They were tied for second with 193 visa-free entry countries along with Korea, Finland and Sweden. Up to the 10th place, there was a gap of one country each with visa-free entry. Most of them were European countries.
The joint third place was Austria, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The joint fourth place is Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, and the UK, with visa-free entry from 191 countries.
Greece, Malta, and Switzerland tied for fifth in passport power with visa-free entry to 190 countries, while the Czech Republic, Poland, and Oceania countries Australia and New Zealand tied for sixth with 189 countries each.
The United States and Canada, along with Hungary, were ranked as joint seventh-largest passport power countries with visa-free entry to 188 countries.
Estonia and Lithuania tied for eighth, and Latvia, Slovakia and Slovenia tied for ninth, respectively, with 186 countries allowing visa-free entry. Iceland was the 10th country with visa-free entry passport power of 185 countries.
The index is compiled by Henry & Partners, a global immigration consulting firm in London, the U.K., based on data from the International Air Transport Association. Japan and Singapore maintained their No. 1 ranking for five consecutive years.
If you have a passport from countries up to 10th place, you can enter more than 180 countries without a visa, but the passport power of general countries is not that strong. Christian Kailyn, chairman of Henry & Partners, who created the passport index, pointed out that although travel liberalization has become a big trend over the past 20 years, the gap between the highest and lowest power countries has widened to the highest level ever. Kailyn said the average number of visa-free countries has increased significantly from 58 in 2006 to 111 this year, but the rich and poor have deepened. He pointed out that the top countries can enter 166 more countries without visas than Afghanistan, the lowest 28 countries.
The second to last place in the ruling camp is Syria, which allows visa-free entry to 29 countries. The third and fourth places were Iraq (31 countries) and Pakistan (34 countries).
JULIE KIM
ASIA JOURNAL
