• Japan ranked number one, with easy access to 193 countries

Sri Lanka’s passport, which has free access to only 42 countries – and is only marginally ahead of troubled Afghanistan which is at the 109th position with access to 27 destinations – has been listed in the 100th position of the latest Henley Passport Index which is a new quarterly report released by the London, UK based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley and Partners and which utilises data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the purpose.  

A trio of Asian passports offers their holders greater global travel freedom than those of any other country, according to the said report which noted that Japanese citizens enjoy visa free or visa on demand access to a record 193 destinations, just ahead of Singapore and South Korea whose citizens can freely visit 192 countries.

Below the Asian top three, a glut of European countries sit near the top of the leader board. Germany and Spain are tied on 190 destinations, followed by Finland, Italy and Luxembourg on 189, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden all tied in the fifth place (188 destinations), while France, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom (UK) are at the sixth position (187 destinations), New Zealand and the United States (US) are at the seventh place alongside Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and the Czech Republic (186 destinations). Afghan nationals sit at the bottom of the Index once again, and can access just 27 countries without requiring a visa in advance.

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 related policy changes come into effect.

The best passports to hold in 2023, according to the Henley Passport Index, are Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Spain, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Ireland, Portugal, the UK, Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the US, the Czech Republic, and Australia, Canada, Greece, and Malta with 185 destinations, Hungary and Poland (184 destinations), and Lithuania and Slovakia with 183 destinations.

The worst passports to hold in 2023, according to the Henley Passport Index include several countries which have visa free or visa on arrival access to 40 or fewer countries and these include North Korea (40 destinations), Nepal and Palestine (38 destinations), Somalia (35 destinations), Yemen (34 destinations), Pakistan (32 destinations), Syria (30 destinations) and Iraq (29 destinations).

Global travel is now at around 75% of the pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels, according to the said report.