Sierra Leone’s passport has secured the top position as the most powerful among the countries within the Mano River Union (MRU), as revealed by the Henley Passport Index

The country’s passport improved 10 places to position 74 in 2023, up from 83 in 2022, according to the Henley Passport Index Report released this week. Cote d’Ivoire’s passport comes second in the sub region, with a ranking of 79, followed by the Guinean passport at 80 and the Liberian passport at the bottom at 87.

The Henley Passport Index, which is based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), is a global ranking based on the freedom of travel for holders of a country’s ordinary passport.

A total of 199 countries are ranked according to the number of countries their citizens can travel to without the need of a visa or where they could get visa on arrival.

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The number of countries a specific passport is allowed in without a visa is the visa-free “score”. The Gambian passport ranks the highest in West Africa, with the global ranking of 72, with Sierra Leone at second position. They are followed by Cape Verde (75), Ghana (76), Benin (78), Burkina Faso (79), Cote d’Ivoire (79), Guinea (80), Senegal (81), Togo (81), Niger (82), Guinea Bissau (83), Mali (83), Liberia (87), and Nigeria (91).

According to Henley and Partners, publisher of the report. It however said in a press statement that the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access 165 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan.

Besides the Henley Passport Index, Henley and Partners also publishes the Henley Openness Index, which ranks countries based on the number of countries whose citizens can pass through their borders visa-free or with the possibility of acquiring visa on arrival. This index is topped by many countries in Africa.

Sierra Leone ranks 28th in Africa, with 113 out of 198 countries’ citizens able to enter the country without a visa or access to visa on arrival. Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea rank 84 each with only 23 countries’ citizens able to pass through their borders without a visa or access to visa on arrival.