Armenia drops one notch in World Passport Index

YEREVAN, July 19, /ARKA/. Armenia has fallen to 81st place in the updated World Passport Index for the 3rd quarter of 2022, Henley & Partners said.

In the previous index Armenia was 79th. Armenia's downgrade is due to changes in the ranking of other countries. Citizens of Armenia can still travel without a visa to 66 countries around the world.

The ranking is topped by Japan whose citizens can travel without a visa to 193 countries. Singapore and South Korea share the second spot, with their passport holders able to access 192 destinations around the world visa-free. 

But despite the record-breaking worldwide access afforded to citizens of these three nations over the index's 17-year history, international passenger demand in the Asia-Pacific region has only reached 17% of pre-Covid levels, according to IATA's latest statistics, having hovered below 10% for most of the past two years. 

This figure is far behind the global trend where markets in Europe and North America have recovered to around 60% of pre-crisis travel mobility levels.

EU member states dominate the remaining top 10 ten spots on the latest ranking, with Germany and Spain in joint-3rd place, with access to 190 destinations visa-free. Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg follow closely behind in joint-4th place with 189 destinations, and Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden share 5th place with their passport holders able to travel to 188 destinations worldwide without a visa. Both the UK and US have dropped down a rank, to 6th and 7th place, respectively, and Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the index, with its nationals only able to access 27 destinations worldwide visa-free.

The global mobility gap between the world's most and least powerful passports now sits at an unprecedented 166 destinations. -0-