Scope
- Passports: ordinary passports held by adult citizens. Diplomatic, official, service, refugee and emergency documents are excluded.
- Trip: a short tourist visit.
- Universe: 199 jurisdictions: the 193 UN member states, the Holy See and Palestine, Kosovo, Taiwan, and Hong Kong and Macao. Each passport is measured against the other 198; its own country is excluded.
- Territories outside this list (for example overseas territories) are not counted in v0.1.
Access categories
- Visa-freeEnter with just a passport, no prior authorisation.
- Visa on arrivalA visa issued at the border on arrival.
- Electronic travel authorisationA mandatory online authorisation that is not a visa (for example the UK ETA or Kenya's ETA).
- eVisaA visa applied for and approved online before travel.
- Visa requiredA visa applied for in advance through an embassy, consulate or sponsor.
- ConditionalExemption only under specific conditions, such as holding another country's visa or residence permit.
- Entry restrictedEntry or visa issuance suspended or restricted for most travellers with this passport.
- Not yet verifiedWe haven't verified this destination on an official source yet. Never counted as zero.
When several verified rules apply to the same passport and destination, the destination still counts once. A conditional route (for example, visa-free only if you already hold a US visa) never upgrades a passport's category: it's shown as a note. An entry restriction overrides other rules.
A. Global Mobility Ranking
The number of destinations a passport can enter without a visa obtained before departure: visa-free, visa on arrival, or an electronic travel authorisation (ETA). eVisas need approval in advance, so they don't count. Each destination adds at most one point.
Ties share a rank (standard competition ranking: 1, 1, 3). Alphabetical order inside a tie is not a ranking.
B. Passport Power Score (0–100)
| Component | Weight | Measured as |
|---|---|---|
| Visa-free access | 50% | Share of verified destinations that are visa-free |
| Visa on arrival | 20% | Share with visa on arrival |
| Electronic authorisation | 15% | Share needing only an ETA |
| Entry convenience | 10% | Share with no advance visa and a stated stay of 30 days or more |
| Regional mobility | 5% | Share of the passport's own region reachable with no advance visa |
These are starting weights. Before the first ranking we'll publish a sensitivity test showing how ranks move when weights change. Any change creates a new methodology version; old scores keep the version they were calculated under.
Coverage and unknowns
- An unverified destination is never counted as zero. It's shown as “Not yet verified”.
- A passport is scored only when at least 95% of its destinations are verified.
- The worldwide ranking is published only when 90% of passports are scored.
- Records are re-verified at least every 180 days, and sooner when a source changes.
What this index is not
It measures travel access, not the prosperity or prestige of a country, and it isn't legal advice. Individual circumstances (residence permits, previous visas, purpose of travel) can change what applies to you.
Change log
- v0.1: First draft. Weights are starting values and will be sensitivity-tested before publication.