Making waves in the travel world this week: a ranking of the globe’s most powerful passports that reveals the comparative weakness of many African ones.

Even in the digital age, passports haven’t changed much in form. The 3-by-5-inch booklets vary in little except color. But they entitle bearers from different countries very different levels of travel freedom.

GOOD Magazine, a U.S.-based quarterly emphasizing global citizenship, released an infographic — a map and accompanying list—of the rankings based on how many countries citizens of each country can travel to freely.

On the map, the more travel freedom a country’s passport allows, the darker it appears in color. The less freedom it allows, the lighter in color. Like a huge swath of Asia and the Middle East, the continent of Africa appeared largely pale.

The most powerful African passport is Mauritius, with open travel to 126 countries, then next is the Seychelles, open to 123. South Africa’s is the third most powerful, which receives open travel to 94 countries. The least is Somalia’s, with 32, followed closely by Eritrea’s, with 36. Passports from many African countries allow free and open travel to between 40 and 60 other nations.

Worldwide, the most powerful passports are from the United Kingdom, Finland, and Sweden. They each get open travel to 173 countries. (The United States, which bans most travel to Cuba, allows open travel to 172.) The least powerful are from Afghanistan and Iraq, with 28 and 31, respectively.

Most Powerful African Passports

South Africa: 94

Botswana: 70

Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia: 68 continue here https://butchersweetsweat./2015/08/27/most-powerful-african-passports/

Easy pasy, its Mauritius. Mauritius has visa-free access to 146 destinations, making it one of the strongest passports in Africa. Its global reputation is partly due to its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and its relatively strong economy.


You can learn more here: https://blog.changera.co/what-is-the-strongest-passport-in-africa/