Ukraine’s passport has lost one position in the latest global Henley & Partners index measuring the most travel-friendly passports worldwide.
Ukrainian passports now rank 44th like Nicaraguan and Venezuelan among 199 countries. Ukraine lost a position in the ranking due to the travel ban the European Union put in place in March to stop the spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Yossi Harpaz, an assistant professor of sociology at Tel Aviv University wrote in the July 7 report that most passports lost their rank following travel restrictions to stop the spread of the COVID-19 disease.
“The passports of both developing and developed nations stand to decrease in value, at least temporarily,” Harpaz wrote.
The Ukrainian passport scored 129 points in the ranking, which covers 199 passports and 227 travel destinations. Each passport is scored on the total number of destinations that the holder can access visa-free, based on data from the International Air Transport Association.
Neighboring Moldova ranked 49th and Russia 51th. Georgia is 53th, while the Belarusian passport takes 69th place.
The most affected, however, are holders of those passports that are considered prestigious.
“The crisis has caused the world’s premium passports to lose some of their shine,” Harpaz said.
The passports of U.S. citizens, which are usually ranked within the top 10, now have roughly the same level of travel freedom as those of Uruguay and Mexico — ranked 28th and 25th respectively — since the European Union prohibited U.S. citizens from entering its territory.
The most valuable passports in the world are now Japanese and Singaporean. Germany and South Korea have both ranked third.
