Weakest passports severely restrict the travel freedom of many people due to visa restrictions imposed on them. For example the possibility to travel to United Kingdom, EU schengen area, Russia, China for business, tourism and visiting family and friends. These are also the worst passports in the world.
Usually the weakest passports come from Asia, Africa and Arab countries in the middle east. North America and Europe have strongest passports in the world.
The weakest passports create demand for second passports and citizenship by investment schemes wanting visa free travel freedom and mobility to travel around the world. We classify passports into four categories
- Weakest passport – Visa free travel freedom to less than 50 countries
- Weak passport – Visa free travel freedom to less than 100 countries.
- Strong passport – Visa free travel freedom to over 100 countries. This must include free movement to United Kingdom and Schengen Area.
- Strongest passport – Visa free travel freedom to over 150 countries, must include free movement to UK, EU member states, Canada, United States, Russia etc.
These are the top 20 countries that have visa free movement to fewer than 50 countries.
| Country | Rank | Visa free |
| Afghanistan | 1 | 25 |
| Iraq | 2 | 27 |
| Syria | 3 | 29 |
| Somalia Pakistan |
4 | 31 |
| Yemen | 5 | 33 |
| Sudan Palestine Libya |
6 | 37 |
| Nepal | 7 | 38 |
| North Korea Lebanon |
8 | 39 |
| Iran Eritrea Bangladesh |
9 | 40 |
| Kosovo | 10 | 41 |
| South Sudan Ethiopia Congo (DR) |
11 | 42 |
| Sri Lanka | 12 | 43 |
| Nigeria Myanmar Dijbouti |
13 | 46 |
| Congo (Rep) | 14 | 47 |
| Liberia Burundi |
15 | 48 |
| Egypt Haiti Jordan Laos Angola Cameroon |
16 | 49 |
| Algeria | 17 | 50 |
| Vietnam Central African Republic Turkmenistan |
18 | 51 |
| Bhutan Equatorial Guinea |
19 | 52 |
| Cambodia Chad Comoros |
20 | 53 |
Observations
- Afghan passport is the weakest passport in Asia.
- Iraqi passport is the weakest passport in the Middle east.
- Somali passport is the weakest passport in Africa
Source: Henley Passport Index 2019
