Coronavirus: World’s most powerful passport is Japan but global ranking is ‘meaningless’

A global ranking of the world's most powerful passports has been thrown into chaos as the coronavirus pandemic drags us into a historic new era.

Japan still has the world's most powerful passport but the honour has been rendered pretty much meaningless due to COVID-19, the study’s authors say.

Citizenship firm Henley and Partners, which periodically ranks passports according to the level of travel freedom they allow citizens, has published the first Henley Passport Index since the pandemic turned global travel on its head.

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With lockdowns and travel bans making international travel virtually impossible, the firm said its latest research into passport powers revealed a “disturbing insight into the indiscriminate havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Henley and Partners’ previous ranking, published in January, had Japan's passport in number one position, as it allowed people visa-free access to 191 destinations – more than any other passport in the world.

Japan’s citizens carry the most powerful passport in the world but current travel restrictions renders it pretty useless.

The new ranking still has Japan in the top spot, however with about 3.5 billion – half the global population – in full-on or partial lockdown, the ranking was “meaningless”, the firm said.

“A Swiss citizen can, in theory, travel to 185 destinations around the world without needing a visa in advance, but the last few weeks have made it apparent that travel freedom is contingent on factors that can be utterly beyond our control,” Henley and Partners chairman Christian H. Kaelin said.

“This is something that citizens of countries with weak passports in the lower ranks of the index are all too familiar with.”

The firm noted January's ranking revealed “people were the most globally mobile than we had ever been in the history of humankind”.

“Just three months later, the picture looks very different,” it said.

The Australian passport is the ninth on the power ranking.

Australia's position on the global ranking has not changed since January. It remains in ninth spot along with Canada, with Australians able to travel to 183 destinations visa-free.

But that access is now only theoretical, since a Federal Government ban on overseas travel except in a few circumstances.

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Singapore is in second spot on the current ranking with visa-free access to 190 destinations. It’s followed by South Korea and Germany in third place (189 destinations), Italy, Finland, Spain and Luxembourg in fourth place (188 destinations) and Denmark and Austria sharing fifth spot (187 destinations).

Henley and Partners bases its ranking on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association.

Just three months ago, we were more globally mobile than ever – but the coronavirus pandemic has swiftly changed everything.

International relations specialist Parag Khanna, the founder of strategic advisory firm FutureMap, said once travel bans eased, new movement trends may emerge.

“This may seem ironic now but as the curtain lifts, people will seek to move from poorly governed and ill-prepared ‘red zones’ to ‘green zones’ or places with better medical care,” he said.

“Alternatively, people may relocate to places where involuntary quarantine, whenever it strikes next, is less torturous.

“In the US, both domestic and international migration were surging before the pandemic, with Gen-Xers and Millennials shifting to cheaper, second-tier cities in the Sun Belt (southern US states) or abroad to Latin America and Asia in search of an affordable life.

“Once quarantines lift and airline prices stand at rock bottom, expect more people across the globe to gather their belongings and buy one-way tickets to countries affordable enough to start fresh.”

MOST POWERFUL PASSPORTS

1. Japan

2. Singapore

3. Germany and South Korea

4. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain

5. Austria, Denmark

6. France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden

7. Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

8. Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, New Zealand

9. Australia, Canada

10. Hungary

LEAST POWERFUL PASSPORTS

1. Afghanistan

2. Iraq

3. Syria

4. Pakistan

5. Somalia, Yemen

6. Libya, Nepal, Palestinian Territory

7. Kosovo, Lebanon, Sudan

8. Bangladesh, Iran

9. Congo, Eritrea, Sri Lanka

10. South Sudan