The Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI), which ranks countries according to the travel freedom that their citizens enjoy, has ranked the Singapore passport at joint-fourth in travel freedom- a notch above than its fifth position for the past three consecutive years. Singapore shares the fourth position with Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom. Currently, those who have the Singapore passport can travel to 173 countries without any visa.
The index is produced in collaboration with the International Air Transport Association, after scrutinising passports of several counties. It takes into account how many countries their citizens can travel without obtaining a visa.
While Germany tops the list with its most travel free passport, which allows holders to travel to 177 countries without needing a visa, Afghanistan is ranked lowest on the index, at 104th place, with access to only 24 countries. Germany is followed by Sweden, which secured the second position and Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain and the United States, all tied for third place.
Meanwhile, Asian country, Malaysia, is ranked 13th with visa-free access to 164 countries.Thailand and Philippines were ranked 67th and 75th respectively. While a Malaysian passport gives visa-free access to 71 countries, 61 countries can be travelled with Filipino passport without a visa. Moreover, Indonesia was placed at 79th position with 57 countries and Myanmar was 93rd with 41 countries.
Notably, Myanmar was one of the biggest climbers in the Southeast Asian region, along with Laos. Both the countries were ranked 8th and 9th in the region respectively, which is two spots higher from last year.
