Nigeria has dropped one place in the latest Henley Passport Index, ranking 90th among 199 countries and territories, with its passport providing visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 44 destinations worldwide.
The July 2026 edition of the global passport ranking, released by Henley & Partners on Tuesday, placed Nigeria 90th, down from the 89th position it occupied in the April 2026 rankings. Despite the decline, the country’s visa-free access score remained unchanged at 44 destinations.
Henley & Partners said the index, compiled using data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), measures the strength of passports based on the number of destinations their holders can visit without obtaining a visa before departure.
The latest edition assessed 199 passports against 227 travel destinations worldwide.
Within Africa, South Africa maintained its position as the continent’s highest-ranked passport, placing 49th globally with access to 101 destinations.
Botswana followed in 61st place with visa-free access to 81 destinations, while Morocco ranked 67th with 71 destinations. Kenya was placed 68th with access to 70 destinations, while Ghana occupied the 70th position with 67 destinations.
Nigeria shared the 90th position with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Turkmenistan, with all three countries recording visa-free access to 44 destinations.
Globally, Singapore retained the world’s most powerful passport, offering holders visa-free access to 192 destinations.
Japan ranked second with access to 188 destinations, while South Korea and the United Arab Emirates jointly occupied third place, with passport holders able to travel to 187 destinations without securing a visa in advance.
The United States ranked 10th on the index, with access to 180 destinations.
At the other end of the table, Afghanistan remained the world’s weakest passport, offering visa-free access to only 22 destinations. Syria ranked 103rd with access to 25 destinations, while Iraq occupied 102nd place with access to 28 destinations.
The latest ranking comes after Nigeria had improved from 95th position in January 2024 to 89th in April 2026, despite losing visa-free access to several African countries, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mauritania, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Somalia.
According to Henley & Partners, those losses were partly offset by new visa-free access to a number of Pacific island destinations, although they were not enough to improve the country’s overall travel access in the latest rankings.