For the fifth year in a row, Japan retained its top ranking as the “world’s most powerful passport,” beating 198 other countries for the honor.
According to Henley Global Passport Index (HGPI) released in the first quarter of 2023, Japan has a visa-free score of 193 out of 227 travel destinations.
Afghanistan was at the tail end of the list with a score of 27.
The Philippines was 78th along with Uganda with identical scores of 76, the index showed. The Philippine passport ranked 80th in 2022, 77th in 2021, and 74th in 2020, based on the same HGPI.
The ranking is based on the total number of destinations a holder can visit visa-free as well as their Henley Passport Power (HPP), which indicates the percentage of global GDP each passport provides, Henley& Partners said in a report.
Each visa-free destination is equivalent to a score of 1, based on the report that uses data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as well as the World Bank.
Tied in the second spot were Singapore and South Korea with similar scores of 192, data showed.
Completing the top five were Germany and Spain at the third spot with a score of 190, Finland, Italy and Luxembourg in the fourth spot with a score of 189, and Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden at the fifth spot with a score of 188, the global passport index showed
“Afghanistan remained 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,” the report said.
TOP 10 MOST POWER PASSPORTS ACCORDING TO HENLEY PASSPORT INDEX:
1 Japan, Singapore (visa-free score 193) 2 Singapore, South Korea ( 192) 3 Germany, Spain (190) 4 Finland, Italy, Luxembourg (189 5 Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden (188) 6 France, Ireland, Portugal, United Kingdom (187)
7 Belgium, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United States (186)
8 Australia, Canada, Greece, Malta (185)
9 Hungary, Poland (184)
10 Lithuania, Slovakia (183)