The annual Global Passport Power Rank, created by Arton Capital, ranks passports based on the number of countries their holders can visit without needing a visa, or without needing one upon entry.
The passports of 200 nations were indexed for 2019. South Africa ranked 42nd out of 90 ‘passport power rankings’, which places us somewhere in the middle of the pack. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) came out on top, with the passport to covet.
The UAE’s powerful travel doc enables its citizens to travel visa-free to 168 nations, while holders of South African passports gain the same entry to 63 countries. Citizens of the UAE are able to get visas on entry in 54 countries, while South Africans can do the same in only 38. While we need a visa for 100 countries, those from the UAE require a visa for just 30 countries in the world.
Singapore and Germany share the second spot in the rankings, with citizens able to access to 127 and 126 countries visa-free respectively.
The US, France, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, and South Korea all share the third spot with 165 points.
The passports of most European nations rank as more powerful than ours, as do those from Mexico, Taiwan, Seychelles, Ukraine, and Samoa.
Countries with lower-ranking passports than South Africa include Suadia Arabia, Jordan, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Philipines, Zambia, North Korea, and (at the very bottom of the list) Afghanistan.
Visit passportindex.org for the fulll list.
Image: Edited from Wikipedia
