- From red to blue, black and green, several countries have different colours of passports that depicts either their religious faith, national character or international cooperation.
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These are the 7 most powerful African passports
The power of a passport is measured by the number of countries the holder can access visa-free.
A passport says a lot about the country to which its bearer belongs. It speaks to the national character.
According to The Economist, the passport’s colour is the first giveaway and nations tend to pick colours that reflect their national character.
From red to blue, black and green, several countries have different colours of passports that depicts either their religious faith, national character or international cooperation.
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Many Islamic countries have green passports because of the importance of the colour in the Muslim faith while nations that are members of the European Union share the red passports.
Furthermore, the power of a passport is measured by the number of countries the holder can access visa-free.
The South Korean and Singaporean passports are regarded as the most powerful travel documents in the world.
This is because the passports allow holders visa-free access to 162 countries across the world.
The British and American passports, two of the most powerful, allow holders visa-free access into 159 and 158 countries respectively.
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Both Somalia and Afghanistan have least powerful as it can grant holders visa-free access to only 26 countries.
According to the Henley Passport Index of 2018, which used data from the International Air Transport Association, IATA, Seychelles, and Mauritius are the two countries with the most powerful passports in Africa.
The Seychellois passport is the highest-performing passport in Africa in 2018, ranking 27th on the index providing visa-free access to 141 countries.
Mauritius comes second in the ranking with visa-free access to 134 countries.
South Africa is ranked 3rd overall with visa-free access to 100 countries.
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Here is a list of the seven most powerful passports in Africa:
Seychelles
Global position: 24
Visa-free access to 144 countries
Mauritius
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Global position: 32
Visa-free access to 134 countries
South Africa
Global position: 53
Visa-free access to 102 countries
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Kenya
Global position: 67
Visa-free access to 72 countries
Ghana
Global position: 76
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Visa-free access to 62 countries
Egypt
Global position: 87
Visa-free access to 50 countries
Nigeria
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Global position: 91
Visa-free access to 46 countries
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