Kyrgyz passport ranks as 2nd strongest in Central Asia

Bishkek, Jan.10, 2020./Kabar/. Henley & Partners International consultancy firm has published the annual Passport Index ranking by comparing the strength of passports of 199 countries.

Among the Central Asian states, Kazakhstan's passport was named strongest and allows entry into 76 countries. In the overall ranking of the world countries, Kazakh passport takes 67th place.

Kyrgyzstan's passport ranked as 2nd strongest in Central Asia region, which allows citizens of the country entry without a visa in 63 countries.

Henley & Partners listed Kyrgyzstan as having the 80th strongest passport in the world.

Then comes Tajikistan - 58 countries and 84 place, Turkmenistan - 52 countries and 90 place.

The weakest passport in the world in Afghanistan whose citizens can enter 26 countries.

Japan retained the top spot for the third year in a row as its passport holders can enter 191 countries without a visa or a visa on arrival. In second place was Singapore, followed by South Korea, Germany, Italy, Finland, Spain, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Sweden, to round out the top 10.

The third place in the ranking was shared by Germany and South Korea - 189 countries and territories.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and UK passports are gradually falling in the ranking. Over the past year, they fell from sixth place to eighth - now holders of British and American passports can enter without a visa (or with its receipt on the spot) in 184 countries.

Henley and Partners ranks 199 passports in terms of the number of countries their holders can enter without prior visa approval, based on data provided by the Air Transport Association (ATA). The report points out that there is a growing gap in the freedom of travel among countries.

The report stated the global mobility gap is the largest since the establishment of the index in 2006.