Good news for British travellers: according to international residence and citizenship-planning specialists Henley & Partners, UK citizens currently enjoy the greatest degree of freedom to travel.

Britain was ranked highest in the company’s bi-annual Visa Restrictions Index, with citizens allowed to visit 166 worldwide destinations and stay for a minimum of three days without a visa.

Top of last year’s list, Denmark fell to second place in the 2010 rankings, while war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan came last once again, with the latter’s citizens enjoying the least travel freedoms of the 98 nations listed. The USA came seventh, having slipped from 2009’s eighth place.

European countries dominated the ten uppermost positions in the list, with Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, France and Germany scoring highly among others.

In a statement on its website, Henley & Partners emphasised the importance of visas in modern travel, saying: “Almost all countries now require visas from certain non-nationals who wish to enter their territory.”

Commenting upon the study of travel freedoms examined in the wider field of international relations, it added: “Visa requirements are also an expression of the relationships between individual nations, and generally reflect the relations and status of a country within the international community of nations.”

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