PH passport jumps 2 spots in world's most powerful index with visa-free entry to 67 countries
The Philippine passport moved up two spots in the world's most powerful passport index for the first quarter of 2023, with visa-free entry to 67 countries.
On Jan. 10, The Henley Passport Index released its global ranking for the first quarter of 2023, with the Philippines ranking 78th along with Uganda out of 199 countries
Philippine passport jumped two spots from placing 80th on the global ranking in the third quarter of 2022, with visa-free countries also totaling to 67.
This includes Fiji, Micronesia, and Cook Islands in Oceania; Israel and Palestinian Territory in the Middle East; Barbados and Haiti in the Caribbean region; Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore in Asia; Brazil, Costa Rica, and Peru in the Americas, and Morocco in Africa.
Countries requiring visas upon entry include Papua New Guinea, Iran, Nepal, Maldives, and Uganda.
On the other hand, the top ten countries landed in the same spots compared to their ranking in the third quarter of 2022.
Japan is consistently ranked number one, with visa-free access to 193 destinations, followed by Singapore and South Korea, enabling its passport holders to visit 192 countries visa-free.
Germany and Spain, meanwhile, took the third spot with 190 visa-free destinations.
Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Austria ranked fourth, enabling its holders to visit 189 countries visa-free; Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden placed fifth with 188 visa-free scores.
Afghanistan placed in the last spot with a score of 27 Dr. Juerg Steffen, CEO of Henley and Partners shared that there is a direct link between passport strength and economic power.
“Afghanistan remains firmly at the bottom of the index, with a score of just 27—166 fewer visa-free destinations than Japan, which represents the widest global mobility gap in the index’s 18-year history,” he wrote.
“Afghanistan passport provides visa-free access to 12% of the world and less than 1% of global economic output,” he added.
The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as gathered by the Henley & Partners research department.
Each passport is scored according to the total number of destinations that a holder can access visa-free. For each travel destination where no visa is required, a score of one is given for that passport.
View the entire global passport ranking here.
