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Not Bad, Our Malaysian Passport is 9th Best in the World

Guess what? The Malaysian passport has been ranked as one of the best in the world for travellers.

By Melody Oei — 11 Oct 2013, 04:32 PM — Updated over 10 years ago

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Malaysian passport ranked 9th best in the world for travellers

A British, Swedish or Finnish passport is as good as it gets, giving passport holders access to 173 foreign destinations visa-free. In general, being a member of an EU country helps a lot if you want to travel spontaneously, with nine out of 10 of the top countries all part of the European Union.

Malaysia’s passport is ranked the ninth best in the world for travellers, a recent survey found, based on the number of visa-free countries people can travel to out of 219 destinations.

Illustration of Malaysian passport.

Image via therealsingapore.com

The 2013 Visa Restrictions Index by Henley & Partners, a global consulting firm in international residence and citizenship planning, revealed that the Malaysian passport enables Malaysians to travel to 163 countries without a visa.

Malaysia has increased by 5 ranks since the assessment in 2012

Malaysia has increased five ranks since the 2012 assessment where Malaysia was ranked 14th with visa-free travel to 153 countries, 10 less than the current 163.

Afghanistan, Iraq, Paksitan and Somalia passports have been ranked as the worst in the world for travellers

Based on the numbers, Afghani nationals can travel visa-free to a mere 28 countries, while Iraqis can visit 31 nations visa-free. Somalia and Pakistan nationals can travel to 32 countries wiothout a visa, stats reveal.

“In today’s globalised world, visa restrictions are an important tool for governments to control the movement of foreign nationals across borders," said Henley & Partners in a statement.

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