The Estonian passport is the tenth most powerful one in the world, granting visa-free access to 181 countries in the world, according to the 2022 Henley Passport Index.
According to the index, compiled yearly by the London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm, Henley & Partners, Estonia shares its ranking with Latvia and Singapore.
The index is based on the data provided by the International Air Transport Association – known as IATA – and the company has been compiling it since 2006.
This year’s index points out that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the widest mobility gap in the 16-year history of the index; however, the index does not take temporary restrictions into account.
The most powerful passports in the world, according to the 2022 index, are the ones of Japan and Singapore, granting visa-free access to 192 countries and territories. Germany and South Korea come second (190), Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain third (189) and Austria, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden fourth (188).
Lithuania is ranked ninth; according to the index, the Lithuanian passport – along with the Slovakian one – grant visa-free access to 182 countries and territories, which is just one more than the Estonian passport.
The Russian Federation is ranked 46th, its passport grants visa-free access to 119 countries.
The worst passports in the world are those of Afghanistan (26), Iraq (28), Syria (29) and Pakistan (31).
In 2020, Estonia’s passport was ranked 12th most powerful, granting visa-free access to 179 countries; in 2021, the country was also ranked 12th, although it then granted visa-free access to 182 countries – one more than in 2022.
Cover: A page in the newly designed Estonian passport. Image by the Estonian Police and Border Guard.
