By Sainey Darboe Despite its minuscule size, The Gambia heads into the new year with the 8th most powerful passport in Africa according to Henley Passport Index which ranks countries by the number of countries citizens can travel to without requiring a visa.  

The Gambia also comes 73rd in global rankings having amassed a total of 68 countries where its citizens can travel to visa-free. 

This is an indication of major gain in the equity of Gambian passport over continental and regional big names like Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda,Ghana, Ivory Coast,Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia. Citizens of Japan are privileged visit 190 countries around the world without visa. The Singaporean and South Korean passports are in joint second place on 189 countries. The ranking has been produced by the Henley Passport Index, which is based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). It analyses how many countries a passport holder can enter visa-free or on a visa-on-arrival basis. The German and French passports remain in third place going into 2019 with a visa-free score of 188.

In joint fourth are the passports of Denmark, Finland, Italy and Sweden on 187 countries followed by Luxembourg and Spain on 186 countries. The UK and USA share sixth place with the Austrian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swiss passports.