Business
How Powerful is Your Passport in a Post-Pandemic World?
How Powerful is Your Passport in a Post-Pandemic World?
With COVID-19 cases falling in many parts of the world and vaccination programs ramping up at warp speed, international travel no longer seems like a distant dream.
The Henley Passport Index, which has been regularly monitoring the world’s most travel-friendly passports since 2006, has released its latest rankings and analysis.
The most recent data provides insight into what travel freedom will look like in a post-pandemic world as countries selectively begin to open their borders to international visitors.
Prominent Countries Still Holding Strong
The rankings are based on the visa-free score of a particular country. A visa-free score refers to the number of countries that a passport holder can visit without a visa, with a visa on arrival, or by obtaining an electronic travel authorization (ETA).
Without considering the constantly changing COVID-19 restrictions, Japan firmly holds its position as the country with the strongest passport for the 4th year in a row.
This positioning is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA)—with Japanese passport holders theoretically able to access a record 193 destinations from around the world visa-free.
The last time Japan didn’t hold the number one position was back in 2017, when it shared the 5th spot with countries like the United States, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Rank (2021) | Country | Visa-Free Score (2021) | Rank (2011) | Visa-Free Score (2011) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 193 | 4 | 170 |
2 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 192 | 9 | 164 |
3 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 191 | 2 | 172 |
3 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 191 | 10 | 163 |
4 | 🇫🇮 Finland | 190 | 1 | 173 |
4 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 190 | 3 | 171 |
4 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 190 | 3 | 171 |
4 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 190 | 4 | 170 |
5 | 🇦🇹 Austria | 189 | 6 | 168 |
5 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 189 | 1 | 173 |
Singapore remains in 2nd place, with a visa-free score of 192, while Germany and South Korea again share joint-3rd place, each with access to 191 destinations.
Throughout the 16-year history of the Henley Index, EU countries have maintained a dominant position in the passport strength reports. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain all hold the 4th position while Austria and Denmark round up the top 5 with a visa-free score of 189.
Country | Rank (2011) | Rank (2021) | Difference |
---|---|---|---|
🇺🇸 United States | 5 | 7 | -2 |
🇨🇦 Canada | 9 | 9 | 0 |
🇲🇽 Mexico | 29 | 23 | 6 |
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 3 | 7 | -4 |
🇧🇷 Brazil | 25 | 17 | 8 |
The United States and the United Kingdom jointly share the 7th position with a visa-free score of 187 destinations. Canada, Mexico and Brazil hold the 9th, 23rd and 17th positions respectively, with Brazil experiencing a significant jump of eight places over the last 10 years.
Editor’s note: Visit the Henley Passport Index site for a full list and ranking of all countries around the world.
The Countries With The Least Travel Freedom
Afghanistan continues to be the country with the least amount of travel freedom, coming in last place (110th rank) with a visa-free score of 26 destinations. Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen have access to slightly more visa-free travel, but still linger at the bottom of the overall ranking.
Rank (2021) | Country | Visa-Free Score (2021) | Rank (2011) | Visa-Free Score (2011) |
---|---|---|---|---|
110 | 🇦🇫 Afghanistan | 26 | 101 | 24 |
109 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 28 | 100 | 28 |
108 | 🇸🇾 Syria | 29 | 93 | 37 |
107 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | 32 | 99 | 31 |
106 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | 33 | 91 | 39 |
The latest report indicates that the gap in travel freedom is now at its largest since the index began in 2006. Japanese passport holders can access 167 more destinations than citizens of Afghanistan, who can visit only 26.
The Biggest Gainers In a Decade
Over time, small annual moves in the Henley Passport Index can make a big impact—and in the last decade, countries like China and the UAE have been the biggest movers:
China has risen by 22 places in the ranking since 2011 by going from a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 40 destinations to now 77.
The most remarkable turnaround story on the index by far, however, is the UAE. In 2011, the UAE was ranked 65th with a visa-free score of 67 destinations. Today, thanks to the Emirates’ ongoing efforts to strengthen diplomatic ties with countries across the globe, it is now ranked 15th with a remarkable visa-free score of 174 destinations.
Business
The Top Private Equity Firms by Country
This map visualizes the leading private equity firms of major countries, ranked by capital raised over the past five years.
The Top Private Equity Firms by Country
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Private equity firms are investment management companies that pool investor capital to acquire stakes in private companies. Through strategic management, they aim to enhance the value of these companies, then profit from a future sale or public offering.
To gain insight into this industry, we’ve visualized the top private equity firms in various countries, ranked by the amount of capital they raised over the past five years ending March 2023.
The cutoff for inclusion in this graphic was $9 billion raised. All figures come from Private Equity International’s PEI 300 ranking.
Data and Highlights
The data we used to create this graphic is included in the table below.
Country | Firm | Amount raised |
---|---|---|
🇺🇸 US | Blackstone | $126B |
🇸🇪 Sweden | EQT | $102B |
🇬🇧 UK | Hg | $51B |
🇱🇺 Luxembourg | CVC Capital Partners | $42B |
🇨🇦 Canada | Brookfield Asset Management | $31B |
🇨🇭 Switzerland | Partners Group | $27B |
🇭🇰 Hong Kong | Hillhouse Capital Group | $26B |
🇫🇷 France | PAI Partners | $24B |
🇨🇳 China | China Reform Fund Management Corp | $17B |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Waterland Private Equity | $9B |
U.S.-based Blackstone is the world’s largest private equity firm, with operations in additional areas like credit, infrastructure, and insurance.
While not shown in this graphic, the U.S. largely dominates the private equity landscape. If we were to rank the top 10 private equity firms by the same metric (capital raised over past five years), U.S. firms would account for eight of them.
More About Blackstone
Blackstone was founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman, both former Lehman Brothers employees.
Notably investments that Blackstone has made include Ancestry.com, where it acquired a majority stake for nearly $5 billion in 2020.
In 2007, it also acquired Hilton Worldwide (one of the world’s biggest hotel operators) for roughly $26 billion.
Sweden’s EQT
EQT is Sweden’s largest private equity firm, and third largest globally. It is just one of three firms that have raised over $100B in capital over the past five years alongside Blackstone and KKR (also American).
EQT made news earlier this year when it raised $24B in two years for its EQT X private equity fund, which invests in the healthcare, technology and tech-enabled service sectors.
If you found this post interesting, check out this graphic that visualizes the most common types of investments that financial advisors use with their clients.
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