According to the ranking named the Henley Passport Index, holders of Ghanaian passports have visa-free access to 63 destinations.

The ranking was an improvement on the 2018 ranking which saw the Ghanaian passport place 78th.

Ghana's highest ranking on the index came in 2006 when it placed 53rd.

Top 5 African countries

Seychelles (27th), Mauritius (31st), South Africa (53rd), Botswana (62nd) and Namibia (68th) were the highest ranked African countries.

Citizens of Seychelles, Mauritius and South Africa can visit 151, 145 and 101 destinations respectively.

Nigeria ranked 91st, with its citizens able to visit 47 countries without a prior visa.

The lowest ranked African passports on the index were Somalia (103rd), Eritrea (100th) and Sudan (99th).

Global ranking

Japan placed first, with its citizens able to travel visa-free or obtain a visa on arrival in 190 countries, according to the Index.

It was followed by Singapore and South Korea in second place, whose citizens can visit 189 destinations without getting a visa before travel.

The “continued dominance” of Asian countries in the passport index reflects the “extraordinary effect that international mobility and migration has had on the region”, said Henley & Partners, a citizenship advisory firm.

Germany and France are ranked in third place, with access to 188 destinations without a visa; while the US and the UK continue to falter, and now sit at joint sixth place with access to 185 destinations. It marks a significant fall from 2015 when American and British passports were ranked the strongest.

In fourth place are Denmark, Finland, Italy, and Sweden, while Spain and Luxembourg are joint fifth.

At the bottom of the 2019 ranking is Iraq and Afghanistan (104th), with access to just 30 visa-free destinations each.

About the Henley Passport Index

The Index ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and it is enhanced by extensive, ongoing research by the Henley & Partners Research Department.