Dr Malini Yugendran
Auckland, January 12, 2023
New Zealand’s passport is ranked the 7th most powerful passport in the world by the Henley Passport Index of 2023, a place it shares with the United States of America, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
New Zealand passport holders can travel to 186 countries visa-free or with a visa issued on arrival. The ranking reflects the country’s excellent diplomatic relations with other nations, with more convenient travel options.
The Henley Passport Index rating is deemed beneficial for the business, cultural and education sectors as it can also be used as an indicator of the country’s economic, political and social stability.
Asia tops the world
Three Asian countries took the top two positions. The Japanese passport enables its citizens visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 193 destinations worldwide. Singapore and South Korea came in second and its citizens enjoy access to 192 countries.
Malaysia is rated 14th with travel access to 179 countries. Fiji is ranked 62nd place with access to 88 countries. India ranked 85th, two places higher than it was last year with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 59 countries.
The last five positions according to the Henley Passport Index are:
105th position -Yemen (34 destinations)
106th position – Pakistan (32 destinations)
107th position – Syria (30 destinations)
108th position – Iraq (29 destinations)
109th position – Afghanistan (27 destinations)
The Henley Passport Index
The Henley Passport Index ranks all passports in the world based on the number of countries to which its holders may travel visa-free. The index relies on International Air Transport Association (IATA) data and is constantly updated when visa-waiver agreements change.
The freedom of movement score, which is the number of places for which a passport bearer does not need a visa before arrival, determines the ranking. Because of the dynamic nature of visa regulations and international agreements, the rating of a country’s passport fluctuates over time.
The Henley Passport Index is updated quarterly to reflect changes in visa policies.
Other Indices
There are a number of additional reliable passport indexes that are widely used to rate the strength of passports. Among the most prominent ones are:
The Passport Index and the Visa Restrictions Index, like the Henley Passport Index, rate passports based on the number of countries to which passport holders have visa-free or visa-on-arrival access.
On top of visa-free or visa-on-arrival statistics, the Global Passport Power Rank considers other parameters such as the total population and area of various nations, as well as their overall GDP.
The ranking of the Nomad Passport Index is based on travel flexibility, personal freedom, and international taxes.
It is worth noting that all of these indices use similar methods to rank passports and therefore, tend to produce similar results, but they might slightly differ in their criteria or weighting of different factors.
Dr Malini Yugendran is an Indian Newslink Reporter based in Auckland.
