{"id":806616,"date":"2025-01-13T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=806616"},"modified":"2025-01-13T15:45:32","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T13:45:32","slug":"south-africas-passport-gets-stronger-in-2025-shoots-up-the-global-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/806616\/south-africas-passport-gets-stronger-in-2025-shoots-up-the-global-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s passport shoots up 2025 global rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s passport has gained five places on the Henley Passport Index for 2025, ranking among the top 50 strongest passports in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time the local passport ranked in the top 50 was in 2014, over a decade ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This marks a significant milestone, reflecting improved mobility for South African passport holders, even as global trends show growing disparities in passport strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Henley Passport Index, widely regarded as the most authoritative measure of passport power, serves as the benchmark for these rankings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With historical data spanning 19 years, the index evaluates 199 passports against 227 travel destinations, relying on data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and extensive supplementary research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updated monthly, the index provides a robust view of global mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While South Africa\u2019s rise is noteworthy, the improvement comes despite losing visa-free access to Ireland, reducing the total number of accessible destinations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change underscores the challenges of maintaining or expanding travel privileges, particularly as European Union (EU) member states like Finland, France, Germany, and Italy also experienced setbacks, losing visa-free access to certain countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, these EU nations remain among the strongest passports globally, offering visa-free travel to 192 destinations, only slightly behind Singapore and Japan, which top the index with access to 195 and 193 countries, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rank<\/strong><\/td>Country<\/strong><\/td>Access<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>Singapore<\/td>195<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>Japan<\/td>193<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Finland<\/td>192<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>France<\/td>192<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Germany<\/td>192<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Italy<\/td>192<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>South Korea<\/td>192<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>Spain<\/td>192<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Austria<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Denmark<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Ireland<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Luxembourg<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Netherlands<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Norway<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>Sweden<\/td>191<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>Belgium<\/td>190<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>New Zealand<\/td>190<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>Portugal<\/td>190<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>Switzerland<\/td>190<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>United Kingdom<\/td>190<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
46<\/td>Turkey<\/td>116<\/td><\/tr>
47<\/td>Qatar<\/td>112<\/td><\/tr>
48<\/strong><\/td>South Africa<\/strong><\/td>106<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
49<\/td>Belize<\/td>103<\/td><\/tr>
50<\/td>Kuwait<\/td>99<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
105<\/td>Syria<\/td>27<\/td><\/tr>
106<\/td>Afghanistan<\/td>26<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Source: The Henley Passport Index<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s position in the rankings has fluctuated significantly over the years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After reaching a high of 35th place in 2009, it dropped to a low of 58th in 2021. The current rise to 48th place signals a positive shift, albeit in a landscape where global mobility gaps have widened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On average, travellers today can access over 100 destinations visa-free, nearly double the 58 destinations available in 2006. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the gap between the most and least mobile passports remains stark. For example, Afghanistan\u2019s passport ranked lowest, and it grants visa-free access to just 26 countries\u2014a staggering 169 fewer than the top-ranked nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its improved ranking, the South African passport still requires visas for popular emigration destinations such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Europe, visa-free access has now diminished to just three countries: Georgia, Kosovo, and the Russian Federation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reduction is particularly significant as Ireland was one of only four European nations offering visa-free travel to South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, many countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Caribbean continue to welcome South African travellers without visa restrictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise in the rankings is a testament to the enduring value of the South African passport, even as global travel dynamics evolve and new challenges emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 106 countries that South Africans can visit without a visa can be seen in the infographic below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Read: OR Tambo International Airport running out of fuel \u2013 ACSA responds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s passport ranked among the top 50 strongest passports in the world\u2014with the last time being in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":806655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[20580,853],"class_list":["post-806616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-henley-passport-index","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806616"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":806672,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806616\/revisions\/806672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}