Giving visa-free access to a whopping total of 185 countries in the world, the Czech passport is among the most powerful travel document in Europe.
There’s a widening gap between the global north and the global south when it comes to travel freedoms, says the first 2022 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 course 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 dominates
Further down the top 10, the rankings remains virtually unchanged as we enter the first quarter of 2022. South Korea is tied with Germany in second place (with a score of 190) and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain are all together in third place (with a score of 189).
EU countries dominate the top of the list as usual, with France, Netherlands and Sweden climbing one spot to join Austria and Denmark in fourth place (with a score of 188). Ireland and Portugal are in fifth place (with a score of 187).
The United States and the United Kingdom, which held the top spot together back in 2014, have regained a little ground.
They’ve risen one ranking to No.6, alongside four other nations with a history of isolationism or neutrality: Switzerland, Norway, Belgium and New Zealand.
At No.7 we have Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece and Malta. Eastern European countries make up the rest of the top 10.
Hungary and Poland have risen to eighth place, Lithuania and Slovakia have climbed to No. 9, and Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia are in tenth position.
The best passports to hold in 2022 are:
Japan, Singapore (192 destinations)
Germany, South Korea (190)
Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain (189)
Austria, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Sweden (188)
Ireland, Portugal (187)
Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States (186)
Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Greece, Malta (185)
Poland, Hungary (183)
Lithuania, Slovakia (182)
Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia (181)
The worst passports to hold
Several countries around the world have visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to fewer than 40 countries. These include:
104. North Korea (39 destinations)
105. Nepal and Palestinian territories (37)
106. Somalia (34)
107. Yemen (33)
108. Pakistan (31)
109. Syria (29)
110. Iraq (28)
111. Afghanistan (26)
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.
Source Czech Passport Once More Among World’s Most Powerful for 2022 (pragueforum.cz)