GCC States continue to have most powerful passports in Arab world

LONDON: Gulf Cooperation Council member states have the most powerful passports in the Arab world in 2024, according to the latest edition of the Henley Passport Index. The same was true last year.
The UAE continues to be the Arab country with the most powerful passport, according to the index, which is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority.
The UAE ranked 11 this year out of 199 countries, improving on last year’s ranking of 12. Emiratis can travel to 183 out of 227 destinations visa-free, up from 179 last year.
“The UAE remains the biggest climber on the Henley Passport Index over the past decade, adding 106 destinations to its visa-free score since 2014,” the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.
This, according to Henley & Partners, has resulted in “a massive leap of 44 places in the ranking from 55th to 11th position.”
Among the GCC states, the UAE was followed by Qatar (ranked 53), Kuwait (55), Bahrain (59), Oman (60) and Saudi Arabia (61).
Syria has the weakest Arab passport and the second-weakest in the world, ranked 103 ahead only of Afghanistan.
Syrians can travel to only 29 destinations visa-free. Iraq had the weakest Arab passport last year.
Of the 10 weakest passports in the world, six are from Arab countries, including Iraq (ranked 102), Yemen (100), Somalia (99), Palestine and Libya (joint 98).