Countries that embrace the new reality of global mobility are thriving, with their citizens having increasing passport power and travel freedom and other associated perks. And according to Henley & Partners’ Henley Passport Index, Asia has taken the lead.
Its recently released report revealed Asian countries have firmly established their lead on the Henley Passport Index which ranks all of the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. For the third consecutive year, Japan has secured the top spot, followed by Singapore and then South Korea in third place alongside Germany.
Japan pulled ahead of Singapore as it received visa-on-arrival access to Saudi Arabia which Singapore did not. Meanwhile, the US and the UK continued their downward trajectory on the index’s rankings. They both shared the eighth spot. On the other end of the travel freedom spectrum was Afghanistan, with its nationals only able to visit 26 destinations visa-free.
While the latest results from the Henley Passport Index show that globally, people are more mobile than ever before, they also indicate an ever-growing divide when it comes to travel freedom, with Japanese passport holders able to access 165 more destinations around the world than Afghan nationals, for example. Analysis of historical data from the index reveals that this extraordinary global mobility gap is the starkest it has been since the index’s inception in 2006.
Commenting in the report, Dr Parag Khanna, author and the founder and managing partner of FutureMap in Singapore, said: “Increasingly, it is accepted that more migration creates more demand, stimulating much needed economic growth. As the world economy heads into a synchronised slowdown, we must view migration as part of the solution, not the problem.”
Khanna points out that with the US-China trade war showing no signs of decelerating, Western investment has shifted out of China towards Southeast Asia, bringing a new wave of foreign talent into ASEAN countries that have encouraged greater migration through streamlined visa policies.
Important headlines from 2020 include:
- Japan holds the top spot on the Henley Passport Index for the third year running, with citizens able to access 191 destinations without having to obtain a visa in advance.
- Singapore drops to second place, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 190.
- Germany remains in third place, with access to 189 destinations. It shares this position with South Korea, which dropped from the second place position it held a year ago.
- Italy and Finland share joint fourth place, with access to 188 destinations around the globe.
- Continuing their steady decline down the rankings since 2015, the UK and the US have both dropped two spots, from sixth place to eighth place.
- Middle Eastern countries have made strong gains over the past year, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia both moving up four places. The UAE now sits in 18th place, with a score of 171, while Saudi Arabia is in 66th place, with a score of 77.
- Afghanistan continues to sit at the bottom of the index, with a score of just 26.
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