Kenyan passport ranked 6th strongest in Africa, 67th worldwide
The Kenyan passport has been ranked 6th strongest in Africa and 67th globally, together with Malawi, according to the latest data compiled by the Henley Passport Index.
The Henley Passport Index Report released on Wednesday shows the Kenyan passport did not move places as other African passports fell one or three places.
This comes at a time when Kenyan passport holders can travel to 76 countries globally visa-free, indicating its growing prominence worldwide.
The Seychelles passport is the most powerful on the continent at number 26, followed by Mauritius (30), South Africa (53), Namibia, and Lesotho at 65, as well as Eswatini (66).
Mauritius, which has maintained its top position on the continent, fell one rank down from 30th to 29th passport, showing that holders can visit 148 countries visa-free.
South Africa’s passport also fell two pegs from 51st place globally in July to 53rd.
Lesotho dropped from 64th to 65th, Namibia from 62nd to 65th place and Malawi from 68th to 67th place.
The strongest passports include those of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain, whose citizens can travel to 194 countries globally without the need to apply for visas.
The mobility score measures the number of countries that a person holding a given country’s passport can visit without possessing a visa or the nations where they can get a visa on arrival.
Kenya was also ranked the most open country globally together with Burundi, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Maldives, Mozambique and Rwanda among others who scored 198 out of a total openness score of 198.
The Henley Openness Index ranks all 199 countries and territories worldwide according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa using data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In 2015, Kenya first made public the decision to roll out new chip-embedded passports for its citizens in efforts aimed at taming rampant forgery and impersonation of holders.
The electronic passport was initially to be launched in December 2016, but the unveiling was over the years extended several times.
The government, however, finally set December 2022 as the deadline for phasing out the old generation passports, with the move being part of a binding commitment to migrate to the new East African e-passport.