Africa-Press – Mauritius. A study conducted by Henley & Partners to determine a passport’s weakness or strengths in terms of countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) against the number of destinations such a passport can allow their citizens to visit has revealed a total of ten African countries with weak passports as against the over 190 global passports assessed.
A combination of the Henley Passport Index data and World Bank GDP data, an interactive tool that ranks all 199 passports in the world in terms of their Henley Passport Power (HPP) score — an indicator of the percentage of global GDP each passport provides to its holders visa-free.
This also results in an unequivocal link between passport strength and economic power. The most obvious effect of a poor passport is that it restricts your travel options.
Certain parts of Africa have seen a high prevalence of the passport issue. Strong passport-holding nations can enter many other nations without a visa or with one upon arrival, making travel easy for their citizens.
Nationals of weaker passport-holding nations encounter difficulties such as protracted visa application processes, higher costs, and longer wait times to visit several destinations. Furthermore, weaker passports might affect a country’s economy.
Travel restrictions have the potential to hinder the expansion of tourism industries by reducing the number of international visitors and their economic contributions to host communities.
Individuals with limited travel options might also find it challenging to investigate new markets, which could hinder business expansion and entrepreneurial endeavours.
The African continent is realising the potential advantages of strengthening their passports as the world community expands and becomes more interconnected.
However, a number of countries are having trouble increasing the reliability of their passports. Insecurity, diplomatic issues, political unrest, and other factors can all contribute to a weak passport.
Henley and Partners, a company that specialises in citizenship and residency through investment, announced the passport index for the first quarter (Q1) of 2024. These are the top ten African nations with the weakest passports now, per this assessment by Henley & Partners.
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