Three Asian passports, namely Japan, Singapore and South Korea, offer their passport holders greater global travel freedom than those of any other countries, according to London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners.
The Henley Passport Index ranks 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. It is updated in real time throughout the year, as and when visa policy changes come into effect.
Germany and Spain, ranked third, are tied on 190 destinations.
Fourth place goes to Finland, Italy, Luxembourg.
While Austria, Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden all tied in fifth place.
Then France, Ireland, Portugal and United Kingdom are at No. 6.
Seventh place goes to Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United States.
Asia’s more stringent response to Covid-19 means those citizens are less likely to fully make use of that travel freedom than people in Europe or the Americas.
According to IATA (International Air Transport Association), international passenger demand for air travel in the Asia-Pacific region is still less than a fifth of pre-Covid levels.
While the markets in Europe and North America have recovered to around 60% of their previous travel mobility levels.
At the boom of the list is Afghanistan passports which can access just 27 countries without requiring a visa in advance.
However, as travel restrictions ease, there are hopeful signs that lower-ranking passports are beginning to recover clout.
Indian passport holders now have similar travel freedom to that they enjoyed pre-pandemic, says the report, with unrestricted access to 57 destinations around the world (compared just 23 destinations in 2020).
Due to the invasion of Ukraine, Russian passport holders are more cut off from the rest of the world than ever before.
