Almost Half of the world countries have worst passports, severely restricting mobility and travel freedom for its citizens.
Afghanistan and Iraq passports are the worst passports in the World as of 2019, according to Henley passport rankings, For example chinese passport has only limited travel freedom to only 74 countries, while russia passport has access to 119 nations as of 2019.
- Afghan and Iraq passport are the worst passports in first place
- Somalia and Syrian passports take second place for worst passports
- Pakistan passport is the third worst passport in the world.
The Worst Passports in the World
Rank | Passport | Visa free countries |
1 | Afghanistan, Iraq |
30 |
2 | Somalia, Syria |
32 |
3 | Pakistan | 33 |
4 | Yemen | 37 |
5 | Eritrea | 38 |
6 | Palestine, Sudan |
39 |
7 | Nepal | 40 |
8 | Bangladesh Lebanon Syria South sudan |
41 |
9 | Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea |
42 |
10 | Sri Lanka Congo (DR) |
43 |
11 | Kosovo | 44 |
12 | Dijbouti | 45 |
13. | Burundi | 46 |
14 | NIgeria Liberia Congo Republic |
47 |
15 | Cameroon Myanmar |
48 |
16 | Angola Central African Republic Egypt |
49 |
17 | Algeria Jordan |
50 |
18 | Equatorial Guinea Haiti Vietnam |
51 |
19 | Laos Comoros |
52 |
20 | Chad Guinea-Bissau Madagascar Turkmenistan |
53 |
21 | Cambodia Niger Rwanda |
54 |
22 | Bhutan Mali Gabon Togo |
55 |
23 | Cote d’Ivoire Guinea Senegal |
56 |
24 | Burkina Faso | 57 |
25 | Mauritania Mozambique Sao Tome and Principe Tajikistan Uzbekistan |
58 |
26 | Armenia India Benin Morocco Morocco |
61 |
27 | Sierra Leone | 62 |
28 | Ghana | 63 |
29 | Kyrgyzstan Uganda Zimbabwe |
64 |
30 | Cape Verde Cuba Dominican Republic |
65 |
31 | Azerbaijan
Philippines |
66 |
32 | Gambia Tanzania Zambia |
68 |
33 | Indonesia Kenya Malawi |
71 |
34 | Eswatini | 72 |
35 | Saudi Arabia | 73 |
36 | China Lesotho |
74 |
37 | Thailand Namibia |
75 |
38 | Oman Kazakhstan |
76 |
39 | Belarus | 77 |
40 | Bolivia | 79 |
41 | Suriname | 80 |
42 | Bahrain | 81 |
43 | Botswana | 82 |
44 | Jamaica Papa New Guinea |
83 |
45 | Qatar | 85 |
46 | Nauru Maldives |
86 |
47 | Guyana | 88 |
48 | Fiji | 89 |
49 | Kuwait | 91 |
50 | Ecuador | 93 |
Source: Henley Passport Index 2019
The rank is shared by multiple countries because these countries all have the same level of visa-free or visa-on-arrival access.
Visa Restrictions
Visa restrictions affect millions of people worldwide, impacts tourism and business and these industries have already lost billions of dollars with slow GDP growth. The process for visas and residence permits are usually time consuming and also stressful to many citizens. Recently many countries have transformed from paper visas to e-visas becoming fully digital
Citizenship and Residence by Investment (CRBI)
These visa restrictions restricting freedom of movement have given rise to a new industry Citizenship and residence by investment schemes (CRBI) which is estimated about $15 billion annually, which had garnered special interest among wealthy and high-net worth individuals and families seeking citizenship or residency