2021.10.05 21:11
The world's most powerful passports for 2021 Maureen O'Hare, CNN • Updated 5th October 2021
World's most powerful passports: Global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners has released its quarterly report on the world's most desirable passports. Click on to find out which passport offers the most access in 2021. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/Getty Images
(CNN) — The global gap in travel freedoms has never been wider, says the latest report by London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners.
The firm's Henley Passport Index, based on exclusive data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has been regularly monitoring the world's most travel-friendly passports since 2006. It says that increasing travel barriers that have been introduced over the past 18 months of the Covid pandemic have resulted in the widest global mobility gap in the index's 16-year history. The index doesn't take temporary restrictions into account, so leaving actual current travel access aside, holders of the passports at the top of its ranking -- Japan and Singapore -- are able, in theory, to travel visa-free to 192 destinations. That's 166 more destinations than Afghan nationals, who sit at the bottom of the index of 199 passports, and can access just 26 countries without requiring a visa in advance. Europe dominatesFurther down the top 10, the rankings remains virtually unchanged as we enter the final quarter of 2021. South Korea is tied with Germany in second place (with a score of 190) and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain are all together in third place (with a score of 189). EU countries dominate the top of the list as usual, with Austria and Denmark in fourth place and France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden in fifth place. New Zealand, which announced this week that it was moving away from its Covid-19 elimination strategy in favor of a vaccine certificate system, is in sixth place alongside Belgium and Switzerland. The United States and the United Kingdom, which held the top spot together back in 2014, are now more modestly placed in the rankings. They are at No. 7, alongside the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta and Norway, with visa-free or visa-on-demand access to 185 destinations. Australia and Canada are in eighth place, Hungary is ninth, and Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have together broken into the No.10 spot, with a score of 182.
Germany has the highest-ranking European passport. Alex Grimm/Getty Images The best passports to hold in 2021 are:1. Japan, Singapore (192 destinations) 2. Germany, South Korea (190) 3. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain (189) 4. Austria, Denmark (188) 5. France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden (187) 6. Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerland (186) 7. Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Norway, United Kingdom, United States (185) 8. Australia, Canada (184) 9. Hungary (183) 10. Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia (182)
Copied partially from the Internet by SNUMA WM, October 5, 2021 |
2021.10.05 21:35
2021.10.06 07:07
That's just wonderful. It is the document that proves South Korea
is one of the most respected countries in the world.
However, Koreans have North Korea.
2021.10.06 08:19
The North Korean passport is one of the worst, matching that of Afghanistan.
However, unlike Afghanistan, they have nuclear weapons, submarines, and missiles.
It does, at least, show something. They are still Koreans, and I am proud of that.
The following countries are ranked lowest on Henley's list,
making their citizens' passports the least powerful in the world.
107. Iran (41 countries accessible without a pre-departure visa)
107. Lebanon (41 countries)
107. Sri Lanka (41 countries)
107. Sudan (41 countries)
108. Bangladesh (40 countries)
108. Kosovo (40 countries)
108. Libya (40 countries)
109. North Korea (39 countries)
110. Nepal (37 countries)
110. Palestinian Territory (37 countries)
111. Somalia (34 countries)
112. Yemen (33 countries)
113. Pakistan (31 countries)
114. Syria (29 countries)
115. Iraq (28 countries)
116. Afghanistan (26 countries)
One time, the American passport was the king of foreign travel.
The Korean passport was hardly worthwhile in world travel.
It was just like the one for Afghanistan (the worst-rated one) of today.
The time has changed and now, the U.S. passport is just so and so in world travel.
However, the Korean passport has become one of the best to carry with.
As I was leaving Korea 56 years ago with a Korean passport,
I had never dreamed that it would become one of the best passports in the world.
How did that happen? Now, I don't have a Korean passport with me.
I should never have underestimated my own country.