PH passport ranked 73rd of 199 countries

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MANILA, Philippines — The ranking of the Philippine passport held steady at the 73rd spot out of 199 passports, according to the 2024 Henley Passport Index which ranks the world’s passports based on the number of countries their holders can access without a prior visa.

However, the number of countries Filipinos could travel to without a visa or through visa-on-arrival access went down to 67 out of 272 possible destinations compared with 69 earlier this year.

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“The Philippines lost access to Armenia and Togo since January, both as part of a broad switch from visa on arrival to e-Visa, bringing their score from 69 to 67,” Scott Moore, managing director of Henley & Partners which released the report, said during an online briefing on Wednesday.

Optimistic forecast

But Moore pointed out that these policies did not affect the country’s ranking. “From 2015 until now, besides COVID-19, the general trend is up for the Philippines passport ranking. The Philippines is viewed as quite stable right now, and as the Philippine economy continues to grow, it should continue to see improvements on the passport’s visa-free access,” he said.

According to Moore, the report has consistently shown “a strong correlation between a country’s visa-free score and its economic prosperity.”

“Nations with higher visa-free scores tend to enjoy greater gross domestic product per capita, increased foreign direct investment, and more robust international trade relationships,” he said.

The Philippine economy expanded by 5.7 percent in the first quarter, outdoing most of its peers in Southeast Asia.

Ranked highest on the index was the Singaporean passport which reclaimed its position as the most powerful, with visa-free access to 195 destinations. Next were the passports from France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain, each providing access to 192 destinations.