Solomon Islands has the highest-ranked passport of Pacific Island nations, at 37th equal globally.
This is according to the Henley Passport Index.
The index, organised by a consulting firm that describes itself as “the global leader in residence and citizenship by investment,” releases the list based on global travel freedoms using data from the International Air Transport Association.
The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.
The Solomon Islands passport has access to 134 countries out of 227 on the list.
Samoa and Tonga have access to 131 destinations, while the Marshall Islands has access to 129.
Tuvalu is in equal 41st place with access to 128 countries, while Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau can visit 124 countries visa-free.
Further down the list is Vanuatu with access to 92 countries; Fiji with 90; Nauru, 89 and Papua New Guinea, 87.
Singapore tops the global list, with access to 195 countries, ahead of Japan (193 destinations) and six countries in third equal position – Finland, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Spain (192 destinations).
New Zealand is 5th equal (able to visit 190 countries) and Australia 6th equal (189 countries).
The ranking is the highest for New Zealand since 2017. It peaked at No 4 in 2015 but dipped as low as 8th in 2018 and 2019.
At the tail end of the list are countries including Yemen, Iran and Syria, with Afghanistan at the bottom ranked 106th, with only 26 countries allowing visa-free access.
Incidentally, Australia also has the most expensive passport in the world — with a new adult passport costing A$412 (US$255.30) ahead of Mexico (US$222.82), the USA (US$162.36) and New Zealand (US$120.37).
Henley and Partners said it uses a scoring system.
For each travel destination, if no visa is required for passport holders from a country or territory, then a score with value = 1 is created for that passport. A score with value = 1 is also applied if passport holders can obtain a visa on arrival, a visitor’s permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) when entering the destination.
The total score for each passport is equal to the number of destinations for which no visa is required (value = 1).
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
