Henley & Partners, in its latest report, said that the global gap in travel freedom has never been wider due to the barriers introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on data provided to them by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the firm’s Henly Passport Index released its list of the world’s most powerful passports for 2021.

The latest report said that the lockdown that has been in place over the past 18 months resulted in the widest global mobility gap in the index’s 16-year history.

Currently, Japan and Singapore allow travel visa-free travel to 192 destinations, which is 166 more than Afghan nationals who are placed last in the index.

Further down the top 10, the list remains unchanged as the world enters the final quarter of 2021. South Korea is tied with Germany in second place and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain are all together in third place (with a score of 189).

The Henley & Partners, in its report, based on growing inequalities, suggested that “restrictive policies initially introduced to contain the spread of COVID-19 are now being conveniently applied to contain mobility from the global south.”

Mehari Taddele Maru, a fellow at the United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies, said: “The global north has been enforcing aggressive migration containment strategies for some time now through the rigid application of border controls, undermining the movement of persons in various ways.

“Covid-19-associated travel restrictions are new additions to the toolbox of migration containment instruments employed by the global north to curb mobility from the global south.”

The best passports to hold in 2021 are:

-Japan, Singapore (192 destinations)

-Germany, South Korea (190)

-Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain (189)

-Austria, Denmark (188)

-France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden (187)

-Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerland (186)

-Czech Republic, Greece, Malta, Norway, United Kingdom, United States (185)

-Australia, Canada (184)

-Hungary (183)

-Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia (182)

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The worst passports to hold

North Korea (39 destinations)

Nepal and Palestinian territories (37)

Somalia (34)

Yemen (33)

Pakistan (31)

Syria (29)

Iraq (28)

Afghanistan (26)