How to Read an Index Properly

A passport index looks like a league table, and most people read it like one: a higher place is better, a lower place is worse. That is roughly right, but the number at the top of an article rarely tells you what you actually need to know. This page explains what an index counts, why the same passport sits in different places in different tables, and how to turn a ranking into an answer about your own travel.

What an index actually counts

The travel indices count destinations. For each passport, the publisher checks how many countries and territories a holder can enter without arranging a visa in advance. Entry that is visa-free, a visa issued on arrival, or a simple electronic travel authorisation is usually counted as access; a visa that must be applied for before travel is not.

That single count is the score. The rank is simply the position of that score against all other passports. Nothing else goes into a pure travel index: not how long you may stay, not how the border officer treats you, not whether a country is somewhere you will ever go.

For the Vanuatu passport, the realistic count is around 88 destinations. The European Union suspended visa-free access in full on 4 February 2023 and the United Kingdom introduced a visa requirement on 19 July 2023, so neither Schengen nor the UK contributes to the score any more.

Why the rank and the score are not the same thing

Most indices let passports with the same score share a place. If several passports reach exactly the same number of destinations, they share one rank, and the next score down takes the next position. A rank in the fifties can therefore cover a whole group of passports with identical access, while a single extra destination can move a passport several places.

This is why a move in the table can look dramatic and mean very little. Read the score first, then the rank. A change of one or two destinations is normal from one edition to the next; a fall of dozens, as Vanuatu saw after the European and British decisions, reflects a real change in access.

Why different indices disagree

The Henley Passport Index, the Arton index and the Nomad index do not measure the same thing, so they should not be expected to agree.

• Henley is a travel-only count built on airline-industry entry data and published in editions through the year.
• Arton also counts travel access, but treats the categories of entry slightly differently and updates more continuously, so its figure can differ from Henley's in the same month.
• Nomad is not a travel count at all. It weighs travel together with factors such as taxation, perception and dual nationality, so a passport can rank very differently there.

When two figures circulate, check which index and which edition they come from before comparing them. The page on why the indices differ goes through the methods side by side.

How to read a ranking for your own trips

A ranking answers a general question; you usually have a specific one. A practical way to use it:

1. List your real destinations. Five or ten countries you actually travel to matter more than the total.
2. Check the entry type for each. Visa-free, visa on arrival and electronic authorisation all count in the score, but they are not the same at the desk: arrival visas carry a fee and a form, and authorisations must be obtained before boarding.
3. Check where a visa is still required. For Vanuatu passport holders this includes the Schengen Area and the UK, and a number of other major destinations.
4. Look at the date. Entry rules change by bilateral decision. An edition that is a year old may already be wrong for a particular country.

Common misreadings

"130+ countries including Schengen." This figure still circulates on agency sites. It describes the period before 2023 and is wrong today.

"A high rank means easy entry." An index counts doors, not the questions behind them. Officers can still ask for onward tickets, funds and an address, whatever the score.

"The rank shows the value of citizenship." A travel index says nothing about taxes, residence or the cost of obtaining the passport. Those questions need their own answers, set out in the pages on methodology and index versus reality.

What the Vanuatu figure means in practice

Around 88 destinations is a mid-table result. The access is strongest across much of Asia and the Pacific and weakest in Europe and North America. Anyone choosing the passport mainly for travel should compare their own destination list against the current entry rules rather than against the headline rank.

Citizenship by investment in Vanuatu runs through the Development Support Programme, with applications lodged by a designated agent. The index can help decide whether the passport fits your travel; it cannot tell you whether the programme fits your situation.