Passport rankings are cited everywhere, from major news outlets to sales materials. The rankings themselves are useful tools. The problem lies in how they are used.
Here are six questions to help you read any number critically.
1. Which release period is this from?
The simplest question and the most commonly overlooked.
Henley updates quarterly. This means within one year there are four different numbers for the same passport, and all four are correct at their respective times.
An article from March and one from June citing two different quarters means neither is wrong. But if the June article still uses the March number without stating the date, it is old information presented as current news.
Visa-free data without a publication date is unusable data.
2. Does it include e-visas?
The difference between strict counting and broad counting for Vietnam's passport is 52 versus 98 destinations. Nearly double.
A seller choosing either number is not lying. That's why you need to ask.
3. Ranking or destination count?
These two metrics don't move together. In January 2026, Vietnam's passport rose 5 positions while its destination count fell because Bolivia was removed from the visa-free list.
A headline saying "rose 5 positions" sounds like good news. For someone planning to travel to Bolivia, it's bad news.
Destination count reflects travel reality. Ranking reflects relative position compared to other passports, and changes only because other countries shift.
4. Who published this, and what do they sell?
Both Henley Passport Index and Passport Index are published by companies in the investment and relocation industry, not government agencies.
This doesn't make the data wrong — Henley's underlying data comes from the International Air Transport Association, the source airlines actually use. But you should know that the ranking is also a marketing tool for its publisher.
We also publish our own data, and we also sell services in this industry. You should read our numbers with the same critical eye. That's why we clearly state our counting methodology and verification date on every page with data.
5. Which countries are new on the list?
This is the most important question and almost never appears in sales materials.
A passport opening sixty new destinations sounds powerful. But if those sixty are Pacific island nations and Caribbean territories while you do business in Germany and Japan, it solves nothing.
Use total numbers to compare passports with each other. Use specific destination lists to make decisions. Don't mix the two.
6. Entry or residency?
Visa-free means short-term entry — usually 30 to 90 days.
It does not grant the right to live, work, study, or start a business. A Caribbean passport allows visa-free entry to the Schengen area for 90 days in 180 days, but it does not grant residency rights in any European Union country.
Many people buy a second passport with the wrong expectation on precisely this point.
One way to test a seller
You don't need expertise. Just ask two questions and listen to the answers:
"Does this number include e-visas, and which release period is it from?"
"Give me a list of countries this passport can enter that Vietnam's passport cannot."
A professional answers the first question in ten seconds and sends the second answer within a day.
Someone who avoids answering, changes the subject, or says "that doesn't matter" — has already told you what you need to know.