PH at 78th place in 2023 Henley Passport Index with visa-free access to 67 countries, territories

The Philippines moved up three notches to 78th place out of 109 countries in this year's Henley Passport Index.

Based on the website of Henley & Partners, a residence and investment firm, the Henley Passport Index is the original and authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

The Philippines is tied this year with Uganda with visa-free access to 67 countries. These countries are:

1. Armenia
2. Barbados
3. Bolivia
4. Brazil
5. Brunei
6. Burundi
7. Cambodia
8. Cape Verde Islands
9. Colombia
10. Comoro Islands
11. Cook Islands
12. Costa Rica
13. Cote d'Ivoire
14. Dominica
15. Fiji
16. Guinea-Bissau
17. Haiti
18. Hong Kong (SAR China)
19. Indonesia
20. Iran
21. Israel
22. Kazakhstan
23. Kyrgyzstan
24. Laos
25. Macao (SAR China)
26. Madagascar
27. Malawi
28. Malaysia
29. Maldives
30. Marshall Islands
31. Mauritania
32. Mauritius
33. Micronesia
34. Mongolia
35. Morocco
36. Mozambique
37. Myanmar
38. Nepal
39. Nicaragua
40. Niue
41. Pakistan
42. Palau Islands
43. Palestinian Territory
44. Papua New Guinea
45. Peru
46. Rwanda
47. Samoa
48. Senegal
49. Seychelles
50. Singapore
51. Somalia
52. Sri Lanka
53. St. Lucia
54. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
55. Suriname
56. Taiwan
57. Tajikistan
58. Tanzania
59. Thailand
60. The Gambia
61. Timor-Leste
62. Togo
63. Trinidad and Tobago
64. Tuvalu
65. Uganda
66. Vanuatu
67. Vietnam

In 2022, the Philippines shared 80th place out of 112 countries with Cape Verde Islands and Uganda, while having access to 67 countries without a need for a visa.

The website states that the index is based on the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which assess 199 countries "according to the percentage share of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to which their passport holders have visa-free access, by taking into account their visa-free/visa-on-arrival scores out of a possible 227 destinations."

It also states that the final Henley Passport Power score for each country is the sum of the national GDP shares of global GDP for each of the destinations to which its passport holders have visa-free access including their own GDP. The maximum possible score is 100, representing 100% of global GDP.

Meanwhile, Japan garnered the first spot, having visa-free access to 193 destinations that collectively account for 98% of the global economy.

It was followed by Singapore and South Korea with visa-free access to 192 countries, Germany and Spain with 190; Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg with 189; and Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden with 188.

Afghanistan placed at the bottom ranking which has visa-free access to only 27 countries or 12% of the world and less than 1% of global economic output. —Richa Noriega/KBK, GMA Integrated News