Last Thursday (Jan 11), the Henley Passport Index, based in London, released its ranking of the world's passports. In the comprehensive list, Singapore tied with six other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain, in the list of the world's strongest passports. These passports grant citizens privileges to travel to 194 destinations without the need for a visa.
Singapore leads the Southeast Asian region, followed by Malaysia in 12th place (access to 182 destinations), Brunei in 20th place (access to 168 destinations), Timor-Leste in 58th place (access to 94 destinations), Thailand in 63rd place (access to 82 destinations), Indonesia in 66th place (access to 77 destinations) and the Philippines in 73rd place (access to 69 destinations). In this year's ranking, the Philippines shares 73rd place with Cape Verde and Uganda.
This is followed by Cambodia at 86th (access to 56 destinations), Vietnam at 87th (access to 55 destinations), Laos at 90th (access to 51 destinations) and Myanmar at 92nd (access to 48 destinations).
At the bottom of the global rankings, Afghanistan ranks 104th with access to 28 destinations, followed by Syria at 103rd (with access to 29 destinations), Iraq at 102nd (with access to 31 destinations), Pakistan at 101st (with access to 34 destinations), and Yemen at 100th (with access to 35 destinations).
The Henley Passport Index differs from regularly published passport strength scores, which rank countries based on the percentage of their global gross domestic product (GDP) to which passport holders have visa-free access.
The index is used to rank passports based on how accessible they are to citizens without requiring a visa. The index incorporates proprietary and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and includes information from 199 passports available to passport holders for 227 destinations.
