Nigeria’s passport has dropped to 96th position on the 2025 Henley Passport Index, making it one of the world’s least powerful travel documents. From the ranking which was recently released by the London-based firm, holders of a Nigerian passport can now visit only 44 destinations without a visa, down from 45 destinations in 2024.
The Henley Passport Index ranks how many destinations a passport holder can visit without needing a visa and it compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations. The firm stated on its website that it has compiled these rankings for 20 years and it relies majorly on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In 2024, Nigeria ranked 95th on the list with its passport holders able to travel to 45 countries visa free. It was in the same category last year with Iran, Lebanon and Sudan. This year however, Nigeria now ranks 96th and is in the same category with Ethiopia, Lebanon and Myanmar.
Countries those holding Nigerian passports can travel to without visas are Barbados, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burmen, Cambodia, Cameroun, Cape Verde, Chad, Cook Islands, Comoro Islands, Cote D’Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominican, Fiji, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Kenya, Kiribati, Lebanon, Liberia and Madagascar. Most of these destinations are concentrated in West Africa and other developing regions and this limits the movement of Nigerians who want to travel to major economic hubs in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Within the African continent, Nigeria’s ranking is underwhelming compared to its counterparts. From the report, South Africa holds the strongest passport in Africa, ranking 53rd globally. The country’s passport holders enjoy visa-free access to 102 destinations, more than double what Nigerian passport holders can access. It is followed by Botswana which is number 63 on the list with its passport holders able to travel to 83 destinations. Republic of Benin is 77th on the list, while those with its passport can travel to 66 visa-free destinations while Zimbabwe ranks 80th and its passport holders can travel to 63 visa-free destinations.
Nigeria is also behind the war-torn Central Africa Republic which is 91st on the list, with its passport holders able to travel to 51 visa-free destinations, seven more than Nigerians. Angola is 86th on the list, Algeria 86th, Burkina Faso is 84th, while Morocco is the 70th, with its passport holders able to travel to 73 visa-free destinations. Rwanda is 78th in ranking with its passport holders able to travel to 65 destinations.
Countries with weaker passports than Nigeria
Despite Nigeria’s low ranking, several African countries perform even worse on the index. Ethiopia shares Nigeria’s 96th position, with passport holders also able to travel to 44 visa-free destinations. Congo and South Sudan occupy the 97th position, with citizens able to travel to 43 countries without a visa. Sudan ranks 98th on the list, while Eritrea and Libya share the 99th position, with passport holders able to travel to only 39 countries visa-free. Somalia ranks 102nd, with its passport holders able to travel to just 33 destinations without a visa, making it one of the weakest passports globally.
While Nigeria lags behind its regional peers, Singapore has maintained its position as the world’s most powerful passport, with visa-free access to 193 of 227 destinations worldwide. South Korea follows closely in second place with access to 190 destinations, while Japan ranks third with 189 visa-free destinations.
While countries like Singapore have maintained its lead, the U.S. passport has fallen out of the top 10 most powerful passports globally for the first time in 20 years. The US has now tied with Malaysia, having already fallen from seventh place last year to 10th place in July. A decade ago, the U.S. passport topped the index.
Henley & Partners said in the news release on Tuesday this week that reciprocity plays a role in a country’s rankings as countries with a large disparity between the travel freedom they enjoy relative to their willingness to let other nationalities enter without a visa which includes countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand have remained stagnant or declined in passport power over time.
At the moment, the most powerful passports in the world are in order of ranking are Singapore (193 destinations), South Korea (190 destinations), Japan (189 destinations), Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland (188 destinations) Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands (187 destinations), Greece, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden (186 destinations), Australia, Czech Republic, Malta, Poland (185 destinations), Croatia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (184 destinations), Canada (183 destinations), Latvia, Liechtenstein (182 destinations), Iceland, Lithuania (181 destinations), Malaysia and the United States (180 destinations).destinations visa-free.
To ensure accuracy and reliability, the Henley Passport Index says it relies mainly on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations and is updated monthly.
“In order to maintain the accuracy of the data provided by IATA in the face of constant updates to visa policy, and in order to create detailed visa lists for all 199 passports in our database, the Henley & Partners research team cross-checks each passport against all 227 possible travel destinations. This is done using reliable publicly available information, including but not limited to, government resources and major news outlets. This research process is ongoing throughout the year. It is coupled with a rigorous monitoring system to pick up relevant visa-policy shifts,” the research organization said.
For each travel destination, if no visa is required for passport holders from a country, 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. Where a visa is required, or where a passport holder has to obtain a government-approved electronic visa (e-Visa) before departure, a score with value = 0 is assigned. The total score for each passport is equal to the number of destinations for which no visa is required (value = 1).
The Africa Visa Openness Index
Daily Sun had earlier reported that Nigeria ranked sixth on the Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI) for 2024, trailing behind countries like Rwanda, Seychelles, Benin and The Gambia, which continue to dominate the rankings by offering visa-free access to African travelers.
The AVOI assesses how accessible a country is to visitors from other African nations, using criteria such as visa-free entry, visa-on-arrival options, and mandatory visa requirements. Scores range from 0 (most restrictive) to 1 (most open), with the report providing a detailed analysis of each country’s visa policies and their openness to travel. Despite Nigeria’s progress, stringent visa processes remain a challenge across Africa. IATA emphasized this issue in its 2024 Global Passenger Survey which revealed that cumbersome visa requirements significantly deter African travelers, who face more difficulties compared to those in other regions.
The findings highlighted that African passengers value convenience in airport selection but often encounter limited options due to poor infrastructure and weak connectivity. Consequently, many rely on travel agents for flight bookings, with restrictive visa policies playing a key role. The survey noted that travelers from Africa and the Asia-Pacific region contend with some of the world’s most complex visa regulations.
Credit: The Sun