Philippine passport’s ‘power’ wanes in 2021 global travel freedom index

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine passport has further reduced its strength, dropping to 82nd place in the 2021 Henley Passport Index (HPI) from last year’s 74th position. This latest ranking is the lowest for the country’s main international travel document since 2006.

Henley & Partners, a global citizenship and residence advisory firm that oversees the global ranking of countries based on the travel freedom of its passport holders, said each passport is scored based on the total number of destinations a holder of the passport can access visa-free. This year, it assessed the strength of the passport of 199 countries.

For now, according to the 2021 HPI, Philippine passport holders have a total of only 66 visa-free destinations. The Philippine passport’s rank peaked at 62nd for three consecutive years in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Photo from Henley & Partners official website: https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index

Henley & Partners explained that for each travel destination where the passport would not be required a visa, a score of one is given for that passport. On the other hand, for each travel destination where the passport would be required a visa where a passport-holder must apply for a government-approved electronic visa before departure, a score of zero is given.

The HPI “was developed to give users a nuanced, practical, and reliable overview of their passport’s power,” the London-based company noted.

The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as gathered by the Henley & Partners research department.

Below are the Top 10 passports – and the number of destinations their passport holders can go to visa-free –  according to the 2021 HPI:

• Japan (193 countries)
• Singapore (192)
• South Korea, Germany (191)
• Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain (190)
• Austria, Denmark (189)
• France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden (188)
• Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States (187)
• Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Norway (186)
• Australia, Canada (185)
• Hungary (184)

Meanwhile, Afghanistan is ranked 116th on the list, with only 26 countries to which Afghan passport holders can travel visa-free. It is trailed by Iraq with only 28 countries; Syria, 29; Pakistan, 32; Yemen, 33; and Somalia with 34.

Henley & Partners and IATA have analyzed the visa regulations of the vast majority of the countries and territories in the world since 2006.

The latest and complete HPI ratings can be found here.

INQUIRER.net has reached out to Malacañang and the Department of Foreign Affairs for their comments on this matter but has yet to receive their replies as of this writing.

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