Bulgaria climbed to 13th place for 2023 in the authoritative ranking of the London-based private consulting firm "Henley & Partners" for the most attractive passports in the world.

According to the "Henley Passport Index" world ranking for the third quarter of 2023, published on the company's official website, holders of a Bulgarian passport currently have visa-free access to 176 countries in the world, along with citizens of the Principality of Monaco and Romania.

For comparison, in 2022, in the same ranking, Bulgaria was in 17th place with visa-free access to 173 countries in the world alongside Croatia.

This year, Singapore displaced last year's leader Japan, ranking first with visa-free access to 192 countries.

Singapore is followed by the passports of Germany, Italy and Spain, which come second with access to 190 countries, ahead of passport holders of Austria, Finland, France, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden, who have visa-free access to 189 countries.

The UK ranks 4th in the world with visa-free access to 188 countries, Canada is 7th with access to 185 countries, and the US ranks 8th with visa-free access to 184 countries.

The most unattractive according to the ranking are the passports of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, whose holders have visa-free access to 27, 29 and 30 countries, respectively.

The Henley & Partners Passport Index is the original, authoritative ranking of all passports in the world by the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The index is based on specially provided data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the largest and most accurate database of travel information, and has been enhanced by the Henley & Partners research team, says the company's official website.

According to the Henley Passport Index website, which has been collecting data for 18 years, it includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations. Updated quarterly, the Henley Passport Index is considered the standard reference tool for world citizens and sovereign nations when assessing a passport's place on the spectrum of global mobility.

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