As reported by Vesty.co.il, Israel rose to one position in the global rating of freedom of travel Henley Passport Index 2018, which since 2006 publishes the company Henley & Partners. According to the updated data, the Israeli international passport for its "power" now occupies the 23rd place in the world, providing the owners with visa-free access to 150 countries.
Unlike the similar Global Passport Power Rank rating, which estimates the power of the passport by the number of countries that its owner can visit, Henley Passport Index analyzes the visa rules of 117 countries and territories of the world, but also ranks them by the number of countries without a visa. The basic information is provided by the IATA - International Air Transport Association.
The previous ranking also recorded growth by one position - the number of countries without visa entry increased from 146 to 150.
The countries with the strongest passports are Germany (177), Singapore (176), France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, Finland (over 175), Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain (174). At the end of the list are Pakistan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, which can enter without a visa to only 30 countries.
The greatest improvement in the past year was demonstrated by Georgia (+30) and Ukraine (+32).
It is noteworthy that Ukraine (44) for the first time bypassed Russia (48), which before was the leader among the CIS countries.
As for the Global Passport Power Rank, then, according to the data for 2017, Israel occupied the 20th place in it. According to this rating, the owners of the Israeli Darcon (international passport) can enter without visas to 137 countries. (Dismantling with the previous rating is explained by different approaches to assessing freedom of movement.)
"Sensation" of this rating was the appearance at the head of the list of the Republic of Singapore, which for the first time in many years pushed Germany to second place. Singapore outstripped Germany by one position after it established a visa-free regime with Paraguay. Now, citizens of Singapore can go visa-free to 159 countries, and Germany - 158.
Further in the list of countries with the strongest passports are Sweden and South Korea (157 each), Denmark, Finland, Italy, France, Spain, Norway, United Kingdom, Japan and the USA - to 156 each.
Russia is located on the 42nd line (108 countries), Ukraine - on the 33rd (119).
Georgia occupies the 44th position (105), Belarus and Kazakhstan - the 58th (71 each), Armenia 68th (59th), Kyrgyzstan 70th (58th), Uzbekistan and Tajikistan 73rd ), Turkmenistan - the 79th (48).
The ratings of Lebanon are 89th (37th), Sri Lanka, Iran, Sudan - 90th (36th), Yemen - 91st (35th), Somalia - 92nd (34th), Syria - 93rd place (29), Pakistan, Iran - 94th (26th), Afghanistan - 95th (22th).
Note that the compilers of the rating determine the place in the list in "absolute terms", that is, countries with the same indicators of visa-free regime are united in a group with a single number. In other words, Israel, which occupies the 20th place in the rating, is actually only the 48th among the total number of countries that have the best "visa-free" rates.