The African Passport Index
Seychelles leads: 134 destinations without a prior application, world rank 58.
Rising since January 2025
- Senegal+8 places · 55 → 56
- Liberia+8 places · 46 → 47
- Morocco+5 places · 71 → 71
- Gambia+5 places · 65 → 65
- Burundi+5 places · 47 → 47
Falling since January 2025
- Egypt−7 places · 52 → 48
- Tunisia−4 places · 70 → 65
- Zambia−4 places · 66 → 62
- Angola−4 places · 50 → 47
- Lesotho−3 places · 73 → 70
Places gained or lost worldwide; then open destinations at each date.
All 54 African passports
| Africa | Passport | Open doors | World | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seychelles | 134 (135) | 58 | −1 |
| 2 | Mauritius | 127 (128) | 65 | = |
| 3 | South Africa | 94 (98) | 97 | −1 |
| 4 | Botswana | 72 (77) | 116 | −1 |
| 5 | Morocco | 71 (71) | 118 | +5 |
| 6 | Lesotho | 70 (73) | 121 | −3 |
| 7 | Namibia | 69 (72) | 123 | −2 |
| 8 | Eswatini | 68 (71) | 124 | −1 |
| 9 | Malawi | 67 (69) | 125 | +4 |
| 10 | Kenya | 66 (70) | 128 | −2 |
| 10 | Tanzania | 66 (68) | 128 | +2 |
| 12 | Gambia | 65 (65) | 130 | +5 |
| 12 | Tunisia | 65 (70) | 130 | −4 |
| 14 | Cape Verde | 64 (65) | 132 | +3 |
| 14 | Ghana | 64 (66) | 132 | −1 |
| 16 | Rwanda | 62 (64) | 135 | +2 |
| 16 | Uganda | 62 (64) | 135 | +2 |
| 16 | Zambia | 62 (66) | 135 | −4 |
| 19 | Benin | 59 (60) | 141 | +3 |
| 19 | Sierra Leone | 59 (60) | 141 | +3 |
| 19 | São Tomé & Príncipe | 59 (61) | 141 | +1 |
| 19 | Zimbabwe | 59 (61) | 141 | +1 |
| 23 | Madagascar | 57 (58) | 145 | +1 |
| 24 | Gabon | 56 (57) | 146 | +3 |
| 24 | Mozambique | 56 (56) | 146 | +4 |
| 24 | Senegal | 56 (55) | 146 | +8 |
| 27 | Togo | 55 (56) | 150 | = |
| 28 | Burkina Faso | 54 (56) | 153 | −3 |
| 28 | Algeria | 54 (54) | 153 | +2 |
| 28 | Equatorial Guinea | 54 (56) | 153 | −3 |
| 31 | Ivory Coast | 53 (53) | 156 | +1 |
| 31 | Guinea | 53 (54) | 156 | −1 |
| 31 | Niger | 53 (53) | 156 | +1 |
| 34 | Mauritania | 52 (53) | 159 | −2 |
| 35 | Comoros | 51 (52) | 161 | = |
| 36 | Mali | 50 (51) | 162 | +3 |
| 36 | Chad | 50 (50) | 162 | +4 |
| 38 | Guinea-Bissau | 49 (50) | 165 | +1 |
| 39 | Central African Republic | 48 (49) | 168 | +3 |
| 39 | Egypt | 48 (52) | 168 | −7 |
| 41 | Angola | 47 (50) | 170 | −4 |
| 41 | Burundi | 47 (47) | 170 | +5 |
| 41 | Liberia | 47 (46) | 170 | +8 |
| 44 | Republic of the Congo | 46 (47) | 173 | +2 |
| 44 | Cameroon | 46 (48) | 173 | = |
| 46 | Djibouti | 45 (47) | 176 | −1 |
| 47 | Ethiopia | 42 (44) | 180 | = |
| 48 | DR Congo | 41 (43) | 181 | = |
| 48 | Nigeria | 41 (43) | 181 | = |
| 48 | South Sudan | 41 (43) | 181 | = |
| 51 | Libya | 40 (40) | 185 | +2 |
| 52 | Sudan | 39 (40) | 186 | +1 |
| 53 | Eritrea | 36 (40) | 190 | −3 |
| 54 | Somalia | 32 (33) | 195 | = |
In brackets: the number of destinations in January 2025.
Method, and its limit
An “open door” is a destination entered without filing anything before leaving: visa-free, electronic authorisation, or visa on arrival. This is the Henley Passport Index count. The African rank compares the continent’s 54 passports; the world rank, all 199 covered passports.
The change compares two collections of passportindex.org, dated 2025-01-12 and 2026-02-17, made by two different programs: part of the differences may come from the collection rather than a policy decision. A rank also depends on other passports’ movements — a passport can lose places without losing a single destination.
And the reverse: which African countries open most to Africans
Sources: 2025-01-12 collection, 2026-02-17 collection (passportindex.org). Free to reuse with credit and a link to this page.