South African passport goes up the ranks on visa free travel list

An annual visa restriction index has revealed that the South African passport is slowly moving up in the world, one spot at a time.

Every year global consulting firm, Henley & Partners releases their Visa Restriction Index, which analyses the visa regulations of all countries and territories in the world, ranking them based on how freely their citizens could travel with only a passport.

South Africa has moved up one spot from last year's 42nd, to 41st position this year. Travelling on the so-called Biltong Book or Green Mamba alone now allows South Africans access to 97 countries and territories, three more than previous years.

The top position is shared by five countries, whose citizens all have access to 174 countries and territories on their passports alone. They are Finland, Germany, Sweden, USA and the UK. Canada and Denmark are in the second position with access to 173 countries.

Afghanistan ranks right at the bottom of the list in the 94th position, with access to only 28 countries sans visa. Iraq finds itself in the 93rd spot with access to 31 countries, while Somalian, Pakistani, Palestinian Territory and Nepalese citizens only have access to between 32 and 37 countries and territories each.