Henley Passport Index 2020: Czech Republic Has the Ninth Most Powerful Passport in the World
The Czech passport ranked jointly with New Zealand, Malta, Canada, and Australia in ninth place, enabling visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 183 countries. The Czech Republic has been in the top ten of the index for the last five years. Photo: KK / Jobspin.
Czech Rep., Jan 9 (JS) – The latest passport power scores from the Henley Passport Index are out. “We have the ninth most powerful passport in the world! This is a great success. The strength of our passport is measured by how many countries we can travel to visa-free. With our passports, this is possible in 183 countries – an excellent score for our country!” said Tomáš Petříček, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday. Last year, the Czech Republic placed seventh, but the number of countries the passport can access is unchanged. The Czech Republic has been in the top ten of the index for the last five years.
Asia has emerged as the winner, while European countries have slipped down the rankings. For the third year in a row, Japan (191 countries visa-free/visa-on-arrival) came top of the most powerful passport ladder.
Both the US and the UK have been on a downward trajectory in the ratings this year. Their current shared eighth place is a tangible decline from the top spot they shared five years ago.
| Top 5 Passports in 2020 | Number of Visa-free/ Visa-on-arrival Access Countries |
| 1. Japan | 191 |
| 2. Singapore | 190 |
| 3. South Korea and Germany | 189 |
| 4. Italy and Finland | 188 |
| 5. Spain, Luxembourg, and Denmark | 187 |
The Henley Passport Index ranks “all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa”. The latest edition of the index was released on Tuesday, January 7th, 2020. The index is based on “exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).”
